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Nottingham to take over seven Norwich and Peterborough branches

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  • 20/07/2017
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Nottingham to take over seven Norwich and Peterborough branches
Nottingham Building Society is to take on seven branches marked for closure by fellow mutual Norwich and Peterborough Building Society.

The branches are based in market towns across the Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and are part of a strategy by the Nottingham to increase branch presence in these locations.

The building society will have doubled its branch network to 67 over the past five years, taking on 19 branches from other banks and building societies also offers ‘whole-of market’ financial advice.

The branch closures are part of Yorkshire Building Society’s plan to merge its consumer brands and close 48 of its high-street outlets.

David Marlow, chief executive of The Nottingham, said: “Branch closures are leading to more people finding it difficult to access face-to-face advice and service when it comes to dealing with key financial issues in their lives.

“This is particularly true in market towns, where much of our focus is placed. Sadly there are now as many as 1,500 towns in the UK that used to have branches but no longer do.”

Marlow said branches can be reinvented for today’s needs. He said the Nottingham’s strategy of offering a wide range of building society, mortgage advice and estate agency services through branches has fuelled growth – with gross mortgage lending up 24% in five years.

“We opened seven new branch locations in 2016 and welcomed 24,000 new customers – many coming to us to use our advisory services as opposed to just taking out our savings products,” he said.

“It took 160 years for us to get to £1bn in branch savings balances, yet through the reinvention of our existing branches and the addition of new ones, it has taken under four years to get to £2bn.”

The building society has conducted research that found, when choosing a bank or building society, 75% of people say it’s important to have access to face-to-face advice in a branch.

The seven new branches will open in November and December in Spalding, Stamford, Huntingdon, Bourne, Thetford, Dereham and Fakenham.

The Nottingham said other banks and building societies planning closures should spend more time trying to find a competitor that can open new branches in their place.

Marlow added: “Expanding our branch network and widening our offering beyond that of a traditional building society is key to our success and growth. We are very grateful for the opportunity to work with Yorkshire Building Society to maintain continuity of financial services to members of these communities, as well as providing redeployment and employment opportunities in the local economies.”

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