As a building society a key element of our purpose is to deliver long-term value for our members. We’re pleased that our strong financial performance has enabled us to focus on giving back to members and promoting the benefits of mutuality. You play an important role in providing value and communicating the benefits of being a member. You may have seen our updates about different member exclusive rates and products that have launched, but we wanted to summarise what we’ve done to help members in Q1 of 2021, so that you can use these as discussion points over the counter.
Be proud to be part of Yorkshire Building Society, you have lots to talk about!
Savings interest rate increases
In January we increased the interest rates across several savings accounts, giving £20million back in interest to over 1.6million members. We targeted these rates at the products that traditionally paid the lowest rates.
Loyalty Regular Saver
In February as part of a wider programme to give back more to our members, we launched a new Loyalty Regular Saver. This account focuses on rewarding our long-standing members with a market leading rate of 3.50%. This account has definitely been a hit with over 30,000 accounts opened at time of writing!
Loyalty Six Access Saver ISA
By the time you read this we will have launched a new Loyalty Six Access Saver ISA, which has a competitive tiered interest rate of 0.50% on balances from £1 up to £999 and 0.65% on balances of £500,000+. We expect this account to be well received.
Award winners
We’ve been awarded High Street Savings Provider of the Year by Moneyfacts Consumer Awards 2021. This is a fantastic achievement and couldn’t have been accomplished without the hard work and support of you and your teams. This accolade is a great sales aid to talk to prospects about why they should be a member of an award-winning building society. Be proud to talk to your existing members about this award, it’s recognition that we’re a number one savings provider!
Savings pledges
And finally, our savings pledges. This isn’t a new initiative but one that really demonstrates we’re acting in our members best interests. We’re committed to common sense policies and services which provide peace of mind to members. We offer savings health checks, let them know when we launch new accounts and we provide support when they might need it the most. If a member’s circumstances change, they might need access to their money, we’re here to support them.
What’s next?
We’ve created a cross functional team which is solely focussed on how we reward our members and leverage their advocacy. We’re looking at ways we can reward them with more enhanced products and propositions, so they feel valued and part of something bigger. We’re planning towards a few more deliveries in Q2 which we’ll be communicating in the next month or so.
In parallel we also have a team focussed on Financial Resilience, looking at budgeting tools and tips for members as we come out of lockdown. This fits really well with our brand and our member centric focus. Watch this space, we will be updating you about this in the coming months.
Using the good news in your conversations
So, 2021 has got off to a flying start and you’re part of a society that cares about its members. Use these member focused initiatives to support your conversations with prospects and members. They’re brilliant sales aids when having savings account opening conversations and will help when you’re trying to retain customers. They’re positive reinforcement about what it means to be a member of a building society and how YBS is putting its members first.
Spread the word
We’ve shared some social media posts with you which you can reshare on your (non YBS business/personal) social media channels, you can access the posts from the links below. They’re great news stories, please spread the word.
Loyalty Regular Saver
https://www.facebook.com/yorkshirebuildingsociety/photos/a.105308243138862/1407795379556802/
https://twitter.com/Yorkshire_BS/status/1369304121606610954
ISA
https://www.facebook.com/yorkshirebuildingsociety/videos/773181920260856