Britannia Building Society’s mutual status remains safe for the time being after resolutions put forward by carpetbagger Richard Yendall were rejected by members.
Yendall proposed three resolutions, two regarding directors’ pay and one for the annual general meeting that focused on giving direction to the board on business matters.
But after consulting lawyers, Britannia found the resolutions to be invalid. They were rejected due to a ‘lack of legal effect, contradictory provisions and that, if adopted, they would have led to material inconsistencies in the society’s rules,’ according to Britannia.
Barrie Bernstein, chairman at Britannia, said: ‘Mr Yendall claims he is not seeking to force the society to convert to a plc, but we have no doubt this remains his long-term aim. He is the organiser of a carpetbagger website and has actively campaigned, but failed, to get other building societies to convert.’
Despite his resolutions being rejected, Yendall is still standing as a candidate in the election of directors alongside chief executive Graham Stow, operations director John Suffolk, deputy chairman Rhidian Jones and non-executive director, Bridget Rosewell. There are four places available on the board and the candidates with the highest number of votes will win a place on the board.
Britannia is not the only society to be plagued by carpetbaggers, Nationwide, Portman BS and Coventry BS were all under fire at the end of last year. Britannia was also challenged three years ago by Michael Hardern when he stood for election.
