Key Facts

• Julie Elliott was drawn at the top of the private Member's Bill ballot for the parliamentary session.
• She entered the ballot every opportunity since her election in 2010.
• The Bill aims to amend the Building Societies Act 1986 to free up more money for mortgages and support first-time buyers.
• Over half of building society lending—55%—goes to first-time buyers.
• Building societies now account for 28% of all high street branches in the UK, compared to only 14% ten years ago.
• Research by the Resolution Foundation shows that 80% of 25 to 34-year-olds would prefer to buy their own home than rent.
• Building societies are a unique model with over 26 million members holding £352 billion in mortgage assets and £313 billion in savings.
• The Bill could unlock billions of pounds in additional lending capacity, supporting an estimated 20,000 extra mortgages for every £10 billion of new lending capacity.
• Since 2020, building societies have lent £3.4 billion to first-time buyers in the north-east and Cumbria.
• The Bill amends the Building Societies Act 1986 by inserting new provisions to disregard certain funding sources from the wholesale funding limit calculation.
• Clause 1 includes Bank of England liquidity insurance facilities, debt instruments for regulatory requirements, and sale and repurchase agreement sums.
• The Bill allows virtual attendance and voting in building society meetings.
• The Building Societies Association (BSA) represents 42 building societies and seven credit unions with 27 million members across the UK.
• The hon. Member for Sunderland Central introduced the Bill.
• George Freeman represents Mid Norfolk, consisting of 114 villages and five towns.
• Nationwide Building Society is supporting pensioners moving from closing banks.
• George Freeman supports the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill.
• He highlights the impact of bank closures and cash handling issues in rural Norfolk.
• The speaker advocates for a model of civic conservatism that champions local connected responsible capitalism.
• Banks have stepped back from serving their origins in places like Norfolk.
• There is an increasing frequency of ATM raids in East Anglia.
• Mutuality, a concept rooted in both labour and conservative traditions, should be celebrated and promoted more widely.
• Building societies' market share dropped from around 60% in the early '90s to 20%.
• The Bill aims to increase lending capacity by £10 billion.
• This additional lending could support another 20,000 mortgages for first-time buyers.
• Building societies are constrained by archaic legislation under the Building Societies Act 1986.
• The Bill aims to unlock billions of pounds of extra lending for first-time buyers and homeowners.
• For every £10 billion of new lending capacity unlocked, an additional 20,000 average first-time buyers could be supported.
• Building societies have around 1,300 branches, a fifth fewer compared with 2015.
• The Bill allows building society members to attend and speak at AGMs remotely.
• Clause 1 updates the funding structures of building societies but does not change the 50% deposit funding requirement.
• Three proposed exceptions enable building societies to raise additional capital without reducing financial stability.
• Proposes increasing the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection amount from £85,000 to £100,000.
• The West Bromwich Building Society was founded in 1849 by local citizens.
• In 1881, the society had over 2,500 members and an income exceeding £60,000, outperforming other societies of that era.
• The Bill aims to exclude three types of funding from the 50% member funding limit in the 1986 Act.
• Nearly 23.4 million investors and 3.5 million borrowers are members of the 42 building societies in the UK.
• Building societies account for more than a fifth of mortgages in the UK.
• Building Societies Act 1986 allowed societies to demutualise into banks.
• There are currently 42 or 43 building societies remaining.
• First Salisbury and District Perfect Thrift self-terminated in 1980.
• Building societies offer face-to-face banking services, unlike banks in Firth's constituency.
• The Bill aims to make building societies more competitive with other retail deposit takers.
• Nationwide is highlighted for its commitment to community support and helping elderly people navigate online banking.
• The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill has cross-party support.
• Since 2020, building societies have supported over 360,000 first-time buyers with more than £63 billion in lending capacity.
• In the first nine months of last year, building societies attracted £18.9 billion in cash savings.
• Clause 1 allows building societies to exclude funds accessed from the Bank of England during stress scenarios.
• Clause 2 permits real-time virtual participation in annual general meetings.
• Clause 3 reduces administrative burdens for executing documents.
• The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill proposes three key areas of reform: funds that can be disregarded by a building society for calculating its wholesale funding limit, real-time virtual member participation in meetings, and aligning provisions with company law.
• The Government has allocated £145 million in dormant asset funding to Fair4All Finance.
• Amendments will enable the exclusion of three key sources of funding from counting towards the wholesale funding limit.
• Julie Elliott speaks about the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill.
• She mentions the contributions from various Members including the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk and the hon. Member for Dover.
• The Bill has been read a second time and is to be committed to a Public Bill Committee.