Bath Building Society has said it expects the coronavirus pandemic to have “minimal” impact on its overall financial position despite the three-month mortgage holiday announced by the government.
The society, which has more than 20,000 savers and 1,200 mortgage customers, has also introduced penalty-free access to deposits for members to reduce financial hardship caused by the outbreak.
However, chief executive Kevin Gray, pictured, admitted the society’s growth ambitions this year may have to be “tempered” depending on the severity of the economic fallout from the pandemic. 
His comments came as the society unveiled its financial results for 2019, showing another strong year with mortgages, deposits and reserves at record levels.
The society, which employs around 55 staff, increased new lending by 2.6% to £43.3m, which helped grow its mortgage book by 0.8% to £247.7m.
Overall, the society’s total assets rose by 2.4% to £331.9m. However, annual pre-tax profits fell by 18.5% to £2.7m.
Mr Gray said the society continued to go from strength to strength. “Our success comes as a result of the society delivering on its social purpose, that being to change our members’ lives by giving them security through saving and by facilitating their dreams of home ownership,” he said.
“The society’s financial strength gives it more commercial options in the good times and helps to protect its members in the bad times.”
Addressing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, he added: “Although the society is now offering concessions to its members in the form of penalty-free access to deposits and three-month payment holidays to borrowers who are financially distressed, the overall financial impact of these measures will be minimal.
“It is uncertain whether the economic downturn caused by the virus will be short lived or whether people and businesses will struggle to lift themselves back to a ‘business-as-usual’ situation after the virus passes.
“Although our ambitions for growing the business in 2020 may have to be tempered if the economic recovery is muted, the society is in as good a shape as it could be to withstand any longer-term economic shocks.
“For the time being, we are concentrating providing key services to our members and keeping our staff as safe as possible.”
The society has urged its members who are affected by coronavirus and concerned about their financial situation to contact it as soon as possible to discuss the support available to them.
A statement on its website says it will “make sure there is the flexibility to reach the best solution based on individual circumstances. We will respond sympathetically to borrowers who wish to temporarily reduce or halt their monthly mortgage payments due to the impact of the virus.
“Similarly, during this period, on a case-by-case basis, we will be flexible in allowing savings customers who are impacted by the virus to have access to all of their account balances. Normal access and interest penalty clauses will be temporarily set aside for those in need.”
It has also reduced opening hours at its Oldfield Park and Wood Street branches to 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am-1pm Saturday.
Bath Building Society was established in 1904 and is one of fewer than 50 building societies still operating in the UK. As well as its local branch network in Bath, it has a presence in a number of agency offices across the West of England.
