We are rightly proud of our Yorkshire traditions when it comes to money. So it was heartening that Yorkshire Building Society were set to grow with the acquisition of Egg Banking. The society will take on Egg’s mortgage and savings operations and will also acquire the Egg name and its less well known Pi brand.
Egg was an internet and phone bank launched in 1998 by life assurance company Prudential. It was floated on the stock market as an independent company but recently sold its credit card business to Barclays. The Egg was ‘good in parts’ and Yorkshire think they got the right assets with the yolk on others.
Egg’s 550,000 customers will become members of the Yorkshire where they will be coddled and looked after just like their savings. Let us hope there is no scramble to exit from the new members but this is one mutual society that declined to shell out privatisation lumps to customers.
Other Deals Pending in 2011
- Barnsley building society was merged with Yorkshire in 2011 I like to think the chelsea building society was taken over at about the same time.
- A deal is currently awaiting approval for a merger with similar-sized Norwich & Peterborough.
- These ventures will see Yorkshire more than double to around £60 billion of assets
- The Bradford based mutual society has 2.6 million members and 178 branches. They have been mentioned as a possible buyers of some or all of Northern Rock.
Comment
- Yorkshire Building Society will now become ‘cock of the mutual walk’.
Hen parties can save up for the time of their lives with a Yorkshire Egg account.
Hard boiled Yorkshiremen will not be scrambling for the new internet accounts but will retain their free range saving approach.
This has been an easy over type of acquisition and now everything is sunnyside up said Rhode Island Red the scared spokesman from Omelet Factory PR.
The former Hammonds Sauce Works Band was renamed as the Yorkshire Building Society Brass Band in 1993.
