Consumers
Why have some building societies converted to banks in the past?
| Print page | Email |
In July 1989, Abbey National became the first building society to convert to a bank, floating on the stock exchange and moving to plc status. Its actions were followed over the next decade by Cheltenham & Gloucester, National & Provincial, Alliance & Leicester, Woolwich, Halifax, Northern Rock, Bristol & West, Birmingham Midshires and Bradford & Bingley, although not all of these institutions floated on the stock market, or retained their independence. As part of these conversions, members received a variety of 'windfalls' in the form of either cash or shares in the new company. The values of these windfalls varied and in a number of cases were not sufficient to compensate for the higher mortgage rates and lower savings rates typically offered by these institutions now.
None of these demutualised building societies survived as separate entities - all are now parts of other banks or are currently nationalised. A list of where these demutualised societies are now can be found via the link below
Will any other societies convert?
List of demutualised building societies and where they are now
Back to the FAQ List
