The Intermediary – April 2025 - Flipbook - Page 34
PAS T, P R E S E N T A N D
F U T U R E - P RO OF I NG
THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE BUILDING
SOCIETY MOVEMENT
by Marvin Onumonu
At a pivotal moment in history, the 250th
at the Golden Cross. It was here that the landlord
anniversary of the building society, we find
proposed the idea of starting a savings club,
ourselves reflecting on transformative solutions
which eventually "went on to be big enough to
from the past, namely those of the late 18th
buy land to build houses for all of them."
Century, when a quiet revolution began in the
pubs of Birmingham.
Amid the clinking of pint glasses and
societies, comparing it to modern mortgage
animated debates, the first building society
systems. He says: "If you're the last person in the
emerged, igniting a movement that promised
lottery, you still get the prize, but it relies on
empowerment and social mobility to those long
everyone else continuing to pay into it – a bit like
excluded from economic opportunity.
paying your mortgage today."
This shift offered the working class a chance
Mark Bogard, CEO of the Family Building
at homeownership, challenging the strict power
Society, says: “We were set up by postmen in
structures of a land-dominated society and laying
1896. We didn’t have a branch network because
the groundwork for generational wealth.
As we navigate an era filled with economic
the original members posted savings and their
mortgage applications. We may have been the
uncertainties, the enduring spirit of these
first direct financial services business in the
societies, rooted in mutual aid and democratic
world, a very long time before the old Midland
participation, calls once again for reflection and
Bank introduced First Direct!”
revitalisation. This is a legacy that compels us
to ask: can we look towards this transformative
In a similar spirit, a spokesperson from
Yorkshire Building Society reflects on its
ethos to meet present-day challenges, and what
longstanding history, beginning over 160
lessons can we draw from the past to shape a
years ago. The society, rooted in early-morning
more just housing market future?
Forging foundations
Looking back to 18th Century Birmingham, the
seeds of a transformative financial movement
meetings in Huddersfield, owes its legacy to those
who pledged their time to a cause that today
supports more than three million customers.
"Yorkshire Building Society was founded with
a clear purpose: to help people save for what
were subtly being sown. Social structures were
matters to them and enable them to buy a home
extremely rigid, and yet in the heart of bustling
of their own," the spokesperson adds.
industrial cities, a revolution was brewing.
Robin Fieth, CEO at the Building Societies
Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary
relationships at Coventry Building Society,
Association (BSA), paints a vivid picture of
underscores the foundational role these societies
the inception of these societies as grassroots
played during their inception.
initiatives, referring to them as classic “self-help
34
Fieth is particularly captivated by the
innovative trust model at the core of these
“The society was created to help everyday people
schemes.” He explains how a group of workers,
save and buy homes at a time when owning
discontent with poor living conditions, gathered
property was out of reach for many,” he explains.
The Intermediary | April 2025
p
