Kent Reliance Building Society
Kent Reliance Banking service, also known as KRBS, was a building society based in Kent, England. Incorporating the Chatham Reliance (established 1898), Dover District (established 1861), Herne Bay (established 1888) and Kent & Canterbury (established 1847), KRBS was the fastest growing building society in the UK between 2003 and 2008 and was a member of the Building Societies Association.
The dramatic growth of KRBS was driven in part by the establishment in 2002 of a wholly owned subsidiary, Jersey Home Loans Ltd, to buy the Jersey mortgage business of Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank Ltd.[2] By September 2008, this subsidiary had mortgages on its books of over £700 million,[3] achieved by competing on both price and service in a market dominated by the major high street banks. Lending was suspended pending a review of Jersey operations as a result of the Jersey bank regulator's ongoing refusal to grant a deposit taking licence as KRBS is not in the top 500 world banks.[4] KRBS also operates a lending business in Guernsey and the Channel Islands operations in aggregate constitute 43% of the Group's mortgage assets.
It had assets of over £2.3 billion,[5] a network of six agencies [6] and two remaining branches (in Chatham and Hempstead, near Gillingham),[7] all in Kent, following a wholesale programme under chief executive, Mike Lazenby, of converting branches to agencies. This saw the number of outlets reduce from 14 to 8. Lazenby described branches as "a liability".[8]
KRBS was also notable as the only member of the UK building society sector to have offshored administrative work to India, via its wholly owned subsidiaries, Easiprocess and EasiOption. The KRBS Group employed significantly more staff in India than it did in the UK,[9] and as a resulting KRBS had the lowest costs (as a percentage of assets) of any UK building society.[5]
Transfer to OneSavings
In July 2010 JC Flowers announced its intention to purchase a stake of Kent Reliance,[10][11] forming OneSavings Plc. The transfer of the business of the society to OneSavings was approved by a majority of members in November 2010. Kent Reliance Building Society converted into a provident society, Kent Reliance Provident Society, which owns a 59.9% stake in OneSavings Bank, with JC Flowers owning the remaining 40.1%.[12] The transfer became effective on 1 February 2011 and OneSavings Plc was renamed OneSavings Bank Plc.
KRBS sponsored south London football club Charlton Athletic F.C. under a three year sponsorship deal from 2009/10-2011/12. It previously sponsored its more local team Gillingham F.C. for the 2007/08-2009/10 seasons, but this sponsorship ended at the same time that Gillingham were relegated from League One to League Two. The team shirts bear KRBS's website address, krbs.com.
References
- ^ "KRBS History". http://www.krbs.com/about-us/history/. Retrieved 12-03-2011.
- ^ "Kent Reliance agrees Jersey mortgage book sale". investmentinternational.com. http://www.investmentinternational.com/news_Kent-Reliance-agrees-Jersey-mortgage-book-sale_3035.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-07. "In a deal worth an estimated £50 million, Kent Reliance Building Society and Standard Chartered Grindlays announced that they have completed the sale of the Standard Chartered Grindlays Jersey mortgage book to Kent Reliance. Under the terms of the agreement, a new company will be set up by Kent Reliance called Jersey Home Loans Limited. The new company will cater for the needs of the Jersey borrowers and will offer access via both post and internet to a range of services. Existing mortgage clients are being kept fully briefed by Standard Chartered Grindlays on all future contact details and arrangements. Mike Lazenby, former Chief Executive of Kent Reliance, commented: "We are delighted to have completed this sale. Our move to Jersey signals a further change of gear and a significant phase in our planned expansion programme. With the launch of Jersey Home Loans Limited, our new customers can expect a genuinely personal service, flexible and competitive products and long term value that can be relied on.""
- ^ "KRBS Annual Report & Accounts 2009". Kent Reliance Building Society. http://www.krbs.com/pdfs/KRBSannualreport_241209.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ^ "Top 500 policy is nonsense, lender claims". News Channel 103. http://www.channel103.com/news/index.php. Retrieved 2008-11-07. "JERSEY’S policy that stops any bank operating in the Island unless they are in the world’s top 500 has been criticised by the deputy chief executive of the Island’s biggest mortgage lender. Jersey Home Loans had to close its doors to new customers in August and reduce overall lending in the island because it was not in the list of top 500 banks allowed to take deposits in Jersey. Instead, the company had to raise money through its UK parent, Kent Reliance Building Society. Deputy chief executive Rob Procter, pictured, has spoken out against the top 500 policy saying that it reduces choice and increases risk for Islanders and disregards the local market in favour of a global presence. Last week, Chief Minister Frank Walker said that he was confident in the strength of Jersey’s banking system because the banks which operate here are branches or subsidiaries of parent banks that are in the world’s top 500. But Mr Procter disagrees with Senator Walker's ‘fallacious assertions’."
- ^ a b "Financial Results 2009". London Stock Exchange. http://www.krbs.com/pdfs/RNSannouncement27Nov09.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
- ^ "KRBS Agency Locater". Kent Reliance Building Society. http://www.krbs.com/agencies.aspx. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ "KRBS Branch Locater". Kent Reliance Building Society. http://www.krbs.com/branches.aspx. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Oconnor, Rebecca (2006-05-17). "Building Societies 'should close branches to survive'". London: Times Newspapers. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9558-2185381,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-07. "Building societies should close their branches if they want to survive, the chief executive of the UK's fastest growing building society said today. Mike Lazenby, head of the former Kent Reliance Building Society, said that local branches were "a liability" and recommended that other societies consider reducing their branch networks in order to cut costs. Mr Lazenby's comments come at a time when many high street banks are improving their branch networks. Last week, Abbey bank announced plans to open a further 100 branches. Halifax also plans to increase its high street presence. In a speech at the Building Societies' Annual conference in Manchester, Mr Lazenby also accused building societies of "mediocrity", and said the market was "saturated and over-supplied". He said that building societies needed to re-think elements of their businesses, and said closing branches and the potential to outsource in India were key to improving efficiency. Kent Reliance's own branch network underwent a dramatic overhaul under Mr Lazenby's command, with two closures in recent months."
- ^ "KRBS Report & Accounts 2008". Kent Reliance Building Society. http://www.krbs.com/pdfs/finalPDFcompletedocument23dec08.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
- ^ "Kent Reliance and JC Flowers in joint venture talks". BBC News. 2010-07-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10594824.stm. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ Simon, Emma (12 July 2010). "Kent Reliance: your questions answered". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/building-societies/7885038/Kent-Reliance-your-questions-answered.html. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Wikipedia article on OneSavings". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneSavings.
External links