Thursday 30 April 2009

BRITANNIA MEMBERS SAY "YES"

With a resoundingly positive member-vote at their AGM this week in favour of the merger with Cooperative Financial Services (CFS) our near-neighbours the Britannia open a new chapter in their history as they become a £70billion "super-mutual " with 9 million customers and over 12,000 staff. The Britannia /CFS merger has been a topic of much discussion amongst my business contacts and our staff here at The Hanley. The main question asked is;how will the merger impact The Hanley? My answer is simple; I fully understand the logic of the merger and the synergies between those 2 businesses, but we are a local building society with a fiercely proud intention of carving an even stronger niche as our competitors grow larger. The combined Britannia/CFS will be 200 times the asset-size of The Hanley and so it would be foolish for us to just mimic what they're offering. We will focus on our north Staffs roots and on our ability to offer genuinely tailored,personal service to each of our customers.....no call centres,no hierarchy , just a local,mutual building society working hard to earn and deserve the trust of all our customers old and new. As I said, simple really.....

Wednesday 22 April 2009

HOW MUCH?

Watching the BBC coverage at lunchtime of the Chancellors budget my over-riding emotion was sheer incredulity at the size of the numbers quoted. Government debt to be funded by gilts and bonds will top £220 billion. I doubt I can really grasp what that number means, other than in terms of its relativity to previous levels of debt, and in that regard it is simply huge. All those zeros at the end of a few digits probably diminish the meaning for most people, but what is pretty clear is that it will take many years for the UKs ratio of debt to GDP to return to levels previously regarded as "prudent" and of course politicians will be focused on their own recipes for recovery. In a week where a ratings agency has reacted very aggressively to some rated building societies I wonder how well-protected the AAA rating of UK PLC is right now. Any threat to the reputation of our economy as worthy of investment will be very damaging, and not just for the government in its efforts to offlload all those gilts and bonds.

Friday 3 April 2009

MICHELLE OBAMA IS COOL !

She electrified the teenage girls of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in Islington yesterday when she dropped in on a surprise visit and Michelle Obama probably did more for their motivation and focus on learning than any amount of curriculum revision could ever do. She told the girls that "being smart is cooler than anything in the world" and urged them to "control their own destiny" by working hard on their education. Wow! So as well as being elegant, poised and graceful, America's First Lady is also blessed with leadership skills too.She knows that the post- G20 world will be a better place if more of our children can be urged to blossom through education.
Thankfully her husband seems like a cool guy too.