IMPORTANT GUESTS

Yesterday I was pleased to wecome to Stoke the Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Paul Smee. CML is an influential trade body which speaks on behalf of UK lenders and clearly there is currently plenty to talk about. Paul and I discussed the implications of the FSAs mortgage market review, the importance of local mutuals in providing diversity in the marketplace, the plight of first-time buyers and the regenerative potential of housing initiatives. As Paul is a Crystal Palace fan we didn't dwell on football too long! Hopefully our meeting compelled Paul to believe that local mutuals such as The Hanley continue to punch above our weight in delivering great service to our members and that we remain a potent force in our local communities. Today I am hosting a visit from senior executives at the Scottish Building Society, a similarly sized society to ourselves but with a far more extensive territory and a huge agency network. The purpose of the visit is to learn from each other and to compare priorities and performance in our respective businesses. One of the enduring strengths of the mutual sector is that willingness to communiacte with and learn from others and I really hope that our visitors from SBS feel rewarded having made such a long trip south.In contrast the other important visitors to Stoke today are Valencia FC and I hope they have no such warm feeling after tonights Europa League match with Stoke City FC. I am taking a couple of guests to this historic game and I hope that the Potters can rise to this very special occasion.

FORUM FEEDBACK

We held our first Customer Forum of 2012 on Saturday morning with 20 of our members quizzing me on a range of topics. I really enjoy these sessions and am constantly surpised by the depth of feeling amongst local people on key issues in our marketplace.We have been holding these Forums for several years now and of course the low interest rate environment for savers is a recurring theme, but other matters came to the foreground on Saturday, notably the impact on the mutual sector of potential contagion from the eurozone and the need to persist in our efforts to assist local first-time buyers. Obviously hosting a Form every few months helps me to understand how The Hanley is viewed by members , meeting them personally and with no formal agenda, but it also influences my thinking on member appreciation of the risks we face in our business.If ever complacency were to creep in ( and I'm never normally accused of that !) then a brisk Customer Forum session is sure to refresh and revitalise. The highlight of Saturdays Customer Forum was talking proudly of our recruitment in January of two new apprentices, Jordan (16) and Lauren (17). Aside from making us all feel very old, these new recruits epitomise our optimism for the future and our commitment to developing our own talent to meet the many challenges we face in the future.

THE MYTH OF TALENT

Having devoured more than my share of turkey and of chocolate over the past few days I've also begun devouring some of my Christmas gifts.I started with the DVD of the superb Danish thriller The Killing, and I managed to consume all 20 one-hour episodes over just 5 sittings, so I am now hunting the 2nd series with my HMV vouchers. My appetite then shifted to the slim paperback called Bounce by Matthew Syed, journalist and former international table-tennis champion. His book aims to debunk the notion of the "talent myth" that super-achievers are born not moulded, and he trumpets the extraordinary successes we can all achieve if we practice enough, work hard and believe in ourselves. His anecdotes are really inspiring and the book is an optimistic and stimulating slant on the recipe for sporting and business success. This time of year seems to accentuate my appetites for so many things, and I am sure some January trimming will be required, but the core messages of Matthew Syed's book will stay with me long into 2012.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Over an expresso this morning with a golf buddy of mine we were bemoaning the prevailing gloom this week, punctuated by the Chancellors Autumn Statement, the public sector strike,the intensifying crisis in the Eurozone and yesterdays Financial Stability report from the Bank of England. Our antidote to this was to create a list of "reasons to be cheerful" (as the late,great Ian Dury once declared)...we came up with the following gems; 1. Coffee is apparently now good for you. 2. Stoke City are through to the knockout rounds of the Europa League 3. Julian Barnes novel "The Sense of an Ending" 4. Berlusconi is NOT our Prime Minister. 5.The mild weather is predicted to persist this weekend so golf assured. 6. We are not in the euro. 7. I am going to see Coldplay in Manchester on Sunday. 8. The sheer doggedness of charity fundraisers. 9. Gary Oldman in Tinker,Tailor Soldier,Spy. 10. The John Lewis Xmas TV advert. 11. Having great people in our businesses. 12. A new Jaguar car plant for the West Midlands 13. Rory McIlroy 14.The Leveson enquiry. 15. Children of all ages at Xmas................and so many more reasons I'm sure.

STAFF SURVEY

I've been heartened and humbled by the superb results from our recent survey of staff opinions. In the midst of an austere and unpredictable economic environment, the way our staff feel about working at The Hanley is emphatically positive. Amongst the most eye-catching results are ; 88% of staff would recommend The Hanley as a good place to work........ 92% of staff believe they're encouraged to take personal responsibility for their work quality and performance........95% fully understand the organisations aims and objectives.......86% state that their line manager encourages them to take initiative and make decisions. Naturally we have areas where we need to refocus our efforts . These mainly surround career progression (which isn't always easy to engineer in a 60 person firm) and the need for more training and development ( I will really start to worry when our staff have an appetite for LESS training).So a valuable and instructive exercise, as well as a motivating one. We believe that if we continue to treat our staff well then they'll continue to treat our customers that way too.

BOOKSTORES ARE GREAT

I felt a bit guilty reading a weekend newspaper report about the 25% fall in the number of independent booksellers in the UK over the past years.My guilt was based on my buying habit of using Amazon to purchase books these days because it is just so easy to do so.I probably buy 5 or 6 books a month and so I'd be a regular customer of a local bookshop if I'd gained such an affinity. ( I am currently really enjoying Andrew Rawnsley's book on the rise and fall of New Labour; The End of the Party)
I then rationalised things a bit more by reminding myself that I do occasionally use a local bookstore in Hanley when I am in the city centre but I'm not aware they have an on-line offering so all I am really doing is exercising "channel preferences" to suit my buying behaviour. If pressed I'd also admit that buying books on-line is fun, but not as enjoyable as browsing a bookshop. In reality, 21st century retailing is all about giving customers a range of choices in how to do business with you but never compromising on service excellence. I would however gladly support the Booksellers Association's goal of helping creative and entrepeneurial people who run bookshops to thrive by cutting car parking costs in city centres. Many of us who believe in local branches on the High Street would welcome more imaginative measures to revitalise town centre shopping .Sometimes there is no substitute for face to face expert advice.

"GENERATION RENT"

It didn't take long for my relaxing Bank Holiday weekend to recede, as I switched on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 to hear Ruth Davison of the National Housing Federation predict that the proportion of home-ownership in the UK could plummet to 63.8% in the next decade, ( a level unseen since the mid 1980s) unless we tackle the "crisis of the chronic under-supply of new homes". The research commissioned by the NHF predicts higher rents and an entire generation "locked out of decent housing". No punches pulled there. Certainly the historically low level of new homes built last year creates a supply-side problem but in reality the demand-side has deep fractures too, most notably on affordability and the way house price inflation has out-stripped wages growth. This latter dimension of a multi-dimensional problem makes the plight of young, aspiring first-time buyers more acute as they feel compelled to rent as mortgage lenders (rightly) insist that they demonstrate an ability to pay before a mortgage is offered. Escalating rents in high demand locations have led some to forecast that rent levels will rise by 20% over the next 5 years.So "Generation Rent" face the vicious circle of having incomes squeeze as rents rise and wages fail to keep pace with rising inflation , making it hard to save for a (larger)deposit and so having to continue to rent. .......so whats the answer? Well, no sound-bites from me on a layered problem such as this but I still believe that home ownership is an emotional desire and an aspiration for most people in the UK. Demand is high and supply can be improved by more efficient planning guidelines as envisaged in the new Planning Policy Framework announced last month, and a move away from the quantity targets which gave us an over-supply of inner city flats.Strategic initiatives by government and by developers to stimulate the buying process are welcome as is the repositioning of housing nearer the top of the political agenda. It may also be time for a re-appraisal of controls, standards and the degree of competition in the private rented sector. In the meantime as a lender we will continue to play our part too, by helping first time buyers in our locality to save for a mortgage and to obtain an affordable mortgage on the right property for them.