Yorkshire Building Society opened 537,000 savings accounts and provided 41,000 residential mortgages last year.
The mutual’s annual financial results, announced today, revealed strong growth in its savings and mortgage balances.
Despite a lower interest rate environment, its savers benefited from interest rates 0.90 percentage points more than the rest of market average, equating to an additional £430.2m in interest paid[1]. This means the extra interest earned by members has topped £1bn in the last three years[2]
In the year the Society launched its innovative £5k Deposit Mortgage – enabling borrowers to buy a property worth up to £500,000 with a deposit of just £5,000 – it helped hundreds of people buy their first home, many of whom thought being a homeowner was out of reach. This, combined with more traditional mortgage products with larger deposits, meant one in three of its new residential mortgages went to a first-time buyer.
After supporting research that showed saving even a small amount improves mental wellbeing[3], it also introduced a £50 Regular Saver which helped 17,600 people to begin or continue a savings habit.
Its Net Promoter Score[4] - which measures customer satisfaction – increased to a record high as the mutual invested in digital and improving customers’ experience.
Key highlights:
- Nearly 2.9m people now save with the Society, after 537,000 savings accounts were opened in 2024 (2023: 693,000)
- Savings balances increased by 10.6% (2023: 12.0%) to £52.0bn (2023: £47.1bn)
- Paid an average savings rate of 4.21% in 2024 (2023: 3.43%), 0.90 percentage points above the market average (2023: 1.01pp), delivering an additional £430.2m in interest to members (2023: £441.1m)
- Mortgage balances[5] grew by 6.2% (2023: 3.6%) to £49.7bn (2023: £46.8bn)
- Provided 41,000 new mortgages (2023: 44,000) to help people find a place to call home
- Gross mortgage lending increased to £9.7bn (2023: £9.2bn) and net lending increased to £2.9bn (2023: £1.6bn)
- Profit before tax[6] was £383.7m (2023: £450.3m)
- Core operating profit[7] £345.7m (2023: £449.9m)
- Common Equity Tier 1 ratio 18.1% (2023: 16.7%)
The mutual expected a return to more normalised levels of profit, because of a lower interest rate environment.
Susan Allen, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society, said:
“Yorkshire Building Society’s solid performance has continued in our 160th year. Throughout our history, we have focused on helping generation after generation find a place to call home and improve their financial wellbeing.
“We’re a proud mutual, with no external shareholders, so our profits are returned to our members through higher savings rates, and reinvested in our products, services and communities.
“We know through our own research that homeownership is moving further out of reach for many people, and that nearly one in five UK adults have less than £100 in savings[8].
“Against this backdrop, the support we provide is extremely important in helping our members and customers find a place to call home and build their financial wellbeing.
“We will continue to provide value to our members and champion their long-term interests, exploring opportunities to overcome the challenges they face and using our voice to help shape a better future for them.
Mortgages
“After our research found that raising a deposit is a major barrier to owning a home[9], we launched our £5k Deposit Mortgage in March 2024. The customer stories I have heard relating to this product are truly heartwarming and clearly show the difference we can make.
“We have been bolder and more meaningful with our support in 2024, providing innovative products that serve genuine customer needs.
Savings
“Research we supported showed the benefits of saving extend far beyond the financial - saving even a small amount improves mental wellbeing and life satisfaction[10].
“To encourage people to start saving, we launched our £50 Regular Saver. It has supported more than 17,600 people to begin or continue saving.
“Alongside our £5k Deposit Mortgage, we also a launched our First Home Saver, a new product designed especially to support first-time buyers.
Communities
“Making a meaningful difference to the people in the communities we serve is at the very core of mutuality, and we have many achievements to be proud of.
“Last year, we raised more than £360,000 towards our £1m target for our charity partner FareShare, which means more than 660 people have been helped to build skills for the future and find work.
“We also marked three years of our award-winning partnership with Citizens Advice. Working from 40% of our branches, in 2024 their advisors provided 5,600 people with free, impartial advice, unlocking more than £3 million of potential income.
“Our colleagues delivered nearly 20,000 Money Minds sessions, to help people learn more about managing money and how to build financial resilience.
Looking forward
“While interest rates have begun to fall and inflation is stabilising, some of our members and customers still face barriers to their financial wellbeing.
“We will continue to innovate to provide solutions that are distinctive and address the difficulties people face.
“I am proud of the progress we have made in 2024, powered by our brilliant people.
“All that we have achieved this year, combined with our ambitious plans, positions us well to deliver even more value for our members and customers for generations to come.”
1. YBS Group average savings rate compared to Rest of Market average rates. Source: CACI’s Current Account and Savings Database (CSDB), Stock. Data period January – December 2024
2. Additional interest in 2024 £430.2m, in 2023 £441.1m, in 2022 £198.6m
4. Net Promoter Score and NPS are trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc. Data period January-December 2024, based on 22,873 responses
5. Includes Accord Mortgages Ltd
6. The main difference between statutory profit before tax and core operating profit is a £36.2m gain on fair value gain (2023: loss £2.2m) relating to swaps not in hedge accounting relationships
7. Core operating profit is an alternative performance measure which excludes items such as fair value volatility and material one-time charges that do not reflect the Group’s day-to-day activities
8. 2024 data collected with Opinium Research – surveying 2000 UK adults nationally representative of the UK population completed 03 May 2024 - 12 May 2024. ONS data from 2021 census Age groups - figure estimates UK adults to be 44.7million.
10. Understanding the Role of Savings in Promoting Positive Wellbeing, Personal Finance Research Centre, University of Bristol
