Is Carpetbagging Dead

planteria

has there not been cause for the regulator to step in??.. in previous cases of a building society struggling they have persuaded another society to absorb them.

EarthBoy

planteria said:

has there not been cause for the regulator to step in??.. in previous cases of a building society struggling they have persuaded another society to absorb them.

Manchester Building Society has been on its last legs for years and rumour has it that no other building society is interested in taking it over.  The regulator is believed to have tried to persuade Nationwide to rescue it, but the Nationwide refused to touch it with a bargepole.  
We discussed it in detail on the rpoints forum, -now sadly deleted :-(
The Manchester sued its former auditors, Grant Thornton, but lost, so they appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.  The case was heard by the Supreme Court in October, and judgement is still awaited.  I don't really expect any news on the future of the Manchester until the outcome of the court case is published.
Here are some links with information if anybody is interested:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5448271/manchester-building-society
https://www.coppolacomment.com/2016/04/the-building-society-broken-by-its.html
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/15/manchester-building-society-warns-customers-limit-savings
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2019-0040.html

couriervanman

Well they don't do mortgages or insurance they have 2 savings accounts paying diddly squat.....god knows how they make money

EarthBoy

couriervanman said:

Well they don't do mortgages or insurance they have 2 savings accounts paying diddly squat.....god knows how they make money

They don't do new mortgages, but they will have existing ones that they earn interest on.

couriervanman

Its been a while since they last did mortgages

happybagger

couriervanman said:

god knows how they make money

That's not something they make a habit of.
In the 6 months to June 2020 they had impairment losses of over 2m. And in the year to Dec 2019 they had impairments of 1.5m
This comes on top of the previous big losses and costs from the GT case.
The society is currently operating with reserves of negative 15 million. Quite a reversal of the 10 million they had in built up reserves just 8 years ago.
And the society has been run down in the last decade - Total assets are now about a quarter of what they were then.

couriervanman

happybagger said:

couriervanman said:

god knows how they make money

That's not something they make a habit of.
In the 6 months to June 2020 they had impairment losses of over 2m. And in the year to Dec 2019 they had impairments of 1.5m
This comes on top of the previous big losses and costs from the GT case.
The society is currently operating with reserves of negative 15 million. Quite a reversal of the 10 million they had in built up reserves just 8 years ago.
And the society has been run down in the last decade - Total assets are now about a quarter of what they were then.

So potential buyers wont be queuing up to rescue them.......lets just put them to sleep peacefully

planteria

EarthBoy said: ...The regulator is believed to have tried to persuade Nationwide to rescue it, but the Nationwide refused to touch it with a bargepole...

interesting. in the past it's been suggested that the regulators would pretty much force them.

EarthBoy

planteria said:

EarthBoy said: ...The regulator is believed to have tried to persuade Nationwide to rescue it, but the Nationwide refused to touch it with a bargepole...

interesting. in the past it's been suggested that the regulators would pretty much force them.

The regulator has the power to order the directors of a struggling building society to accept a takeover offer from a different building society, whether they like it or not.
However, as far as I know, it doesn't work the other way round. The regulator can't compel a solvent and successful building society to rescue a lame duck building society.  They can certainly apply pressure and try and persuade them to do so, for the greater good of the building society movement, but they can't force them. 

couriervanman

It does make me wonder how some societies can continue operating branches with high costs but have no online presence/accounts, paying almost zero on savings accounts and the directors have spent all the reserves