Today, rumours are running rife that the FSA is seeking a buyer for West Bromwich Building Society. The 160 year old mortgage lender is denying any knowledge of any talks between the FSA and potential buyers; West Bromwich has over 600,000 members and around £10 billion of assets.
Earlier this year, Dunfermline Building Society was sold because it had accumulated bad debts and losses on its commercial and sub prime lending and it is feared that West Bromwich Building Society may be suffering the same.
A spokesperson for West Bromwich said:
“The society is well capitalised, able to meet all its obligations in full and has a long-term future as an independent mutual society, providing a safe home for its members’ savings.”
The FSA would not comment.
Should the West Bromwich Building Society be taken over and broken up, this would not be welcomed by mortgages advisors in the Birmingham area who, as we have mentioned in a previous article, have a wide variety of choice in Birmingham for borrowers from the number of mutual societies there.
