PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 2016
What might we be surprised to learn? That accountants don’t always wear grey suits! We are just like everyone else, really: doing sports, walking dogs and bringing up young families as best we can. While we mostly work with businesses small and large, we also help community organisations and charities, and this can be especially rewarding.
FINANCIAL SERVICES Helping you achieve financial independence
Bath Building Society
15 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN; 01225 423271; www.bathbuildingsociety.co.uk
Who are you? Bath Building Society is a mutual organisation owned by its customers, says Tiffany Hardie-Albutt. What’s special about the way you work? We provide mortgages, savings and investments, and are passionate about giving our customers something special, something difficult to get elsewhere. We continue to be active in the first time buyer mortgage market, predominantly with our holiday let mortgage, buy for uni and parent assisted mortgages. We also have a new mortgage – rent a room mortgage – whereby an individual applicant can borrow more by renting out a room and using the rent towards the mortgage payment. What exciting things have happened at the company over the last year? We recognised that it has been a difficult time for savers with a prolonged period of very low returns, so our strategy was to limit new funding and instead to provide competitive rates to existing savers. We were also delighted that our chief executive, Dick Jenkins, was installed as the chairman of the Building Societies Association, and we continued to promote our Bath Reward Card to our members, and to work with a number of local charities across Bath. 130 I BATH LIFE I www.mediaclash.co.uk
Overall we had another successful year, in which we have further cemented our reputation as a good example of a small institution competing effectively with far larger players, and also making a very big difference in the lives of local people. What are you most looking forward to in 2016? We continue to base our strategy on the enduring need for a different style of lending, in which manual underwriting remains key. This approach suits borrowers with unusual circumstances for whom the mainstream offering of the ‘factory’ mortgage processors is often unsuitable. This position is essential to compete effectively in a highly concentrated market. We will be exploring further ways of assisting keen borrowers to get onto the housing market in 2016, plus we expect to steadily increase our level of lending to older customers in coming years. What might we be surprised to learn? Dick Jenkins, our CEO, is a man of very many talents – and he’s a huge country and western fan. He plays and sings in a band.
Beckford James
Queen Square House, Queen Square Place, Bath BA1 2LL; 01225 437600; www.beckfordjames.com
Who are you? We’re independent chartered financial planners, says Patricia Lake, one of the partners, which means we work across the whole market to find the best solutions for your needs. What’s special about the way you work? We aim to provide a truly client-centred approach to financial planning, giving our clients the understanding and confidence that they will be able to achieve their financial goals. This may sound obvious but, in our experience, many companies start with the solution in mind and then taper the w
The Richardson Swift senior team, with Debbie Boulton in red
WE BASE OUR STRATEGY ON THE NEED FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF LENDING, IN WHICH
MANUAL UNDERWRITING IS KEY