Building societies and other mutuals are owned by their customers, or members. Their purpose therefore to serve their members’ saving and borrowing needs, not those of external shareholders.

This is reflected in generally better standards of service than at shareholder-owned banks, as evidenced by the recent independent research described in these reports.

The results show that building societies and other mutuals are more trusted, offer better value for money, treat their customers more fairly and are better at handling complaints than banks.

As a result they satisfy their customers better and are more likely to be recommended by their customers to their friends and family.

Download the research