Yorkshire BS to close some Barnsley + Chelsea branches

patientperson

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-3419375/Chelsea-Barnsley-Building-Societies-vanish-High-St.html

EarthBoy

I'm only surprised that they didn't merge the branches sooner. There are numerous overlaps with the branch locations and the products/accounts across all three brands are practically identical. The only real difference is the name above the door.

What puzzles me is their plan to keep the Chelsea brand for online and phone use:

The Chelsea Building Society brand is staying - we'll continue to offer our products and services online and over the phone

Your online services are not changing - you'll continue to visit thechelsea.co.uk - with access to all the tools and services you currently enjoy

http://www.thechelsea.co.uk/about-us/important-changes.html

This seems completely pointless.

Thrugelmir

EarthBoy wrote: »

This seems completely pointless.

Mortgage asset book will remain in a separate legal entity while it is allowed to run down.

Froggitt

EarthBoy wrote: »

I'm only surprised that they didn't merge the branches sooner. There are numerous overlaps with the branch locations and the products/accounts across all three brands are practically identical. The only real difference is the name above the door.

What puzzles me is their plan to keep the Chelsea brand for online and phone use:

The Chelsea Building Society brand is staying - we'll continue to offer our products and services online and over the phone

Your online services are not changing - you'll continue to visit thechelsea.co.uk - with access to all the tools and services you currently enjoy

http://www.thechelsea.co.uk/about-us/important-changes.html

This seems completely pointless.

They retain the Chelsea SEO equity that would be lost if they just closed it down. Mind you, if theyre lazy and its just a copy or a redirect to ybs, that plan goes down the pan.

[Deleted User]

I think you are right EarthBoy. This all seems very haphazard. Barnsley merging into the Yorkshire brand, Chelsea keeping an online presence, and Norwich and Peterborough unaffected (at least so far). Surely the Yorkshire would benefit from taking all of their offspring under the one Yorkshire brand name.

Anyway, that's me off my soapbox for another day.

EarthBoy

Froggitt wrote: »

They retain the Chelsea SEO equity that would be lost if they just closed it down. Mind you, if theyre lazy and its just a copy or a redirect to ybs, that plan goes down the pan.

What's SEO?

[Deleted User]

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is a method of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine's unpaid results. Large companies use various "techniques" to get their website pages to the top of the results page. There are whole teams and departments in some organisations who specialise in this.

So, in this context, I can only assume the Chelsea have been better than the Yorkshire at getting their website pages to the top of results pages.

Froggitt

It doesnt matter whether Chelsea is better than Yorkshire or vice versa. It means you occupy say 3rd and 5th positions in a search say for "ISA SAVINGS", rather than only 3rd or only 5th.

System

Isn't Chelsea already simply a trading names of YBS?

It was heavily hinted to me that N&P (and Egg) will be next in late 2016/2017.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Mortgage asset book will remain in a separate legal entity while it is allowed to run down.

EarthBoy

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Isn't Chelsea already simply a trading names of YBS?

It was heavily hinted to me that N&P (and Egg) will be next in late 2016/2017.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Mortgage asset book will remain in a separate legal entity while it is allowed to run down.

Barnsley BS, Chelsea BS and Norwich & Peterborough BS are all trading names of the Yorkshire BS. There are no separate legal entities to wind down; just new signs and stationery to order.

ChiefGrasscutter

...and the website decommissioned
An email to me from Barnsley yesterday tells me that after the move I will be logging into the the ybs - presumably with new ID's etc