Subsidiaries

We operate a number of subsidiary companies which include Yorkshire Guernsey, Yorkshire Key Services and Accord Mortgages. We have also launched an innovative branch sharing agreement, MutualPlus, with Britannia Building Society.

Yorkshire Guernsey

Yorkshire Guernsey is our wholly owned offshore subsidiary, based in the Channel Islands. It was launched in 1990, and has attracted thousands of investors who have deposited around £1.14 billion in the accounts on offer.

Yorkshire Guernsey is a deposit taking bank regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. This means that it is subject to strict legal and financial controls, including stringent capital requirements.

We have given an undertaking to meet the liabilities of Yorkshire Guernsey to the extent that Yorkshire Guernsey is unable to meet them itself. Since Yorkshire Building Society is one of the most successful building societies in the UK, with assets of £17.6bn, this means that customers' with Yorkshire Guernsey are doubly secure.

This undertaking will remain in force as long as Yorkshire Guernsey is a subsidiary of the Society. Customers would be given at least six months' advance notice if Yorkshire Guernsey was to cease to be our subsidiary.

Yorkshire Key Services

Yorkshire Key Services (YKS) is a subsidiary created in 2002 to sell Yorkshire Building Society's market leading systems to other financial institutions.

YKS aims to provide the best service in class systems solutions for the Building Society market, at an affordable cost. It is offering these systems as a branded product called LIBRA. The key benefits of LIBRA are:

• LIBRA is an established system developed and used by a major building society which offers a wide range of functionality delivered in an up to date, user friendly technology environment.
• The pricing of the service is based on a 'subscription' model providing a high degree of certainty on future costs and with little or no requirement for up front investment.
• The solution is continually updated to reflect new regulatory and market requirements.

Since its launch YKS has acquired a number of major clients.

Accord Mortgages

Accord Mortgages - our intermediary-only mortgage lender - launched in April 2003. The Society had previously accepted mortgage business from introducers in return for a procuration fee, but it was felt that this area of the market needed more careful focus.

Since its launch, Accord has prided itself on establishing, and then providing, exactly what mortgage intermediaries require. This is achieved through a monthly service survey, as well as more in-depth focus groups. The focus groups cover the whole of the UK, are facilitated by at least one Accord director, and have led to a number of service improvements.

Accord have service standards in place for mortgage offers, call handling and responding to broker correspondence. Their progress against all of these service standards is displayed on their website and updated weekly. Accord remain the only lender in the intermediary market to do this.

As Accord have grown, so has their product range. Their comprehensive range now covers prime, credit repair, professional, self cert and 100% mortgages. Also in 2005, Accord took the step of becoming an internet-only lender, with all new business now being submitted through their award-winning website.

More change seems inevitable for Accord, in what is a highly competitive area of the mortgage market. One thing which won't change however is their total dedication to the mortgage intermediary.