HAPPY NEW YEAR

For historical reasons our financial year begins on 1st September, which makes us unique amongst UK building societies where most favour a match with calendar year-end in December or tax year- end in March. However, we quite enjoy being different, especially as this will give is the chance to display how well we have hurdled over the various barriers that 2009 has presented us with. This week we'll spend many hours crunching the final figures for our year just gone but we already know that we have much to be proud of in generating a strong surplus (profit) and continuing to cut our costs. We've completed less mortgages than in previous years but that wont surprise anyone, given the fragility of the housing market and our reputation for avoiding risky lending.We've also lost some retail balances to the part-nationalised banks, which is a bit galling as they've been able to use taxpayers subsidies to artifically inflate their interest rates on some accounts. But our strong local membership remains intact and our tremendous confidence in a bright future for The Hanley is undiminished. In fact our annual report and accounts for year ending 31/08/09 will confirm that we are a strong, local building society in fine fettle, well-prepared for the inevitable challenges of the coming year and beyond. A very happy new year to all Hanley members and to all our future customers.