Skipton Building Society, which enjoyed huge success at the UK Customer Experience Awards, has seen membership jump to over one million customers following an incredible year.
The firm, which won three gold awards at the UKCXAs in Wembley Stadium in October, announced its annual results for 2018. It revealed that in the 12 months until December 31, Skipton – the UK’s fourth largest building society – saw a 91,366 (9.9 percent) increase in members, bringing the total to 1,010,426.
The growth in members was driven by the success of the its Cash Lifetime ISA, the first such product launched by any provider in response to the Government’s savings initiative, which attracted 85,948 new members during the year.
Group profit before tax (PBT) was £188.2m, 5.9 percent below 2017 (£200.1m). However, underlying Group PBT increased by 12.3 percent to £186.1m (2017: £165.7m).
Speaking of the impressive results, Skipton’s Group Chief Executive, David Cutter, said: “2018 was another year of strong performance for Skipton Building Society in many ways, from increasing our underlying Group profits to growing our membership to over one million members.
“In 2018 we continued to enable more people to save for their future and finance their own home. And we are proud of our award-winning achievements in 2018 that demonstrate our commitment to this; we became a Which? ‘Recommended’ provider for both savings and mortgages (one of only two firms to do so) and we were named ‘Best National Building Society’ by What Mortgage? for the fifth year running, a tremendous achievement.
Skipton’s three Gold titles won at the UK Customer Experience Awards were Best Customers at the Heart of Everything – Project/Solution, Best Financial Services – Banking and Investment, and Best New Improved Product, which was awarded for the building society’s new Lifetime Individual Savings Account that is designed to help customers aged 18 to 39 buy their first home or save towards retirement.
“One of the achievements that we are most proud of over the past 12 months is Skipton’s success at the prestigious UK Customer Experience Awards 2018, winning gold in three categories, which included the Best Customers at the Heart of Everything award. This category showcases organisations in all sectors who ensure that, at every step of the way, customers are at the forefront of their thinking.
“In addition, for the fifth year in a row the Society was included in The Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For.”
Entries for the 2019 UK Customer Experience Awards are now open, with a special Early Bird offer available to those entering before May 31.