Scarborough Building Society August 2002 – Secret society? There is no mention in the annual report of the circumstances surrounding the sudden departure in February of the finance director, G. R. Waterworth. Our Comment – It is rather odd that members are not considered important enough to be advised of the circumstances. Members need to be assured…
News
Mortgages July 2002 – A Moneyfacts report shows Egg to be the lowest cost source for mortgages for the third consecutive year. Nationwide, with no shareholders to pay, comes second followed by HSBC and Intelligent Finance. Bottom of the table of 35 lenders is Abbey National. Nationwide Building Society July 2002 – The 2002 election again demonstrated the…
Nationwide Building Society June 2002 – Andrew Muir, who seeks to demutualise the society, has found that his election statement contained in the voting documents has been “accidentally” modified by the society to his disadvantage. Portman Building Society June 2002 – Two branches are to be closed in Pewsey and Ramsbury in Wiltshire because they are not “economically viable”….
Staffordshire Building Society May 2002 – The directors of this society plan to close no less than nine branch offices. Nationwide Building Society May 2002 – “Top Mutual Loses Points” – Daily Mail article by Alex Brummer. Nationwide Building Society May 2002 – All seven resolutions submitted to the board requesting the board to make itself genuinely mutual and accountable to its…
Fat Cats April 2002 – Lord Young (outgoing president of the Institute of Directors) criticised the role of “old pals” non-executive directors who hold several directorships, appear at board meetings once a month, rubber stamp whatever they are told and have little effect on the business. One of the most outstanding examples of this is the…
March 2002 – A member-nominated candidate for the board, Richard Yendall, has revealed that Britannia provides more beneficial rates on accounts to members of UNISON than ordinary members. The list of directors shows one non-executive director to be ex-deputy secretary of UNISON. Members are asked to vote to re-appoint the auditor but, strangely and unusually for…
March 2002 – Five directors are stated to be standing for re-election although two have never previously been elected. Our Comment – Another touch of amnesia or fiddling in the boardroom?
March 2002 – Information on Loyalty Bonuses has been sent to members. The majority of payments amount to a few pounds. Accompanying literature states “Mutuality – how it works for you” and goes on to say that members can have their say on how the society is run. Our Comment – The heading should be “Mutuality…
February 2002 – The DTI has announced that there is to be a government review of the role of non-executive directors due to concerns about lack of independence, close ties that sometimes exist between executives and non-executives and the small circle of people holding large numbers of boardroom positions.
February 2002 – Some directors feel that it is safe to report their annual payments in the Summary Reports after the last three years of greed. However, although year over year figures are shown for balance sheet results as in the Full Report, directors are still rather shy about showing comparative years for payments to themselves. …