Minutes of the Members Forum

held at Loughborough Town Hall 9th July 2008

Mr Stephen Peete (Society Chief Executive) welcomed the attendees and introduced himself, Mrs Fiona Wilkinson (Loughborough Office Manager) and Mr Simon Brighty (Sales and Marketing Manager). Mr Peete then outlined the subject matters for the first ever members forum and encouraged the attendees to be as frank and honest as possible as the purpose of the meeting was to learn what members were feeling on important Society matters and also discuss with them future Society initiatives. All eleven confirmed member attendees were present.


Credit Crunch

The opening topic for discussion was the press coverage of the ‘Credit Crunch’. Mr Peete asked the forum if they felt affected by the credit crunch and whether they felt concerned about the impact of this on the Society. The members asked that Mr Peete outline to them why he believes the Society will be ok, if this is indeed the case? Stephen then discussed the differences in the business models between the Society and those heavily affected by the credit crunch, notably Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley and why this means that we are affected less by global and sub prime matters than they are.

Mr Peete then asked if the members felt reassured by the financial services compensation scheme limit of £35,000. Most members present felt that it was irrelevant if the Society in question had a stable business model and was unlikely to be affected by a run on withdrawals. Mr Peete outlined the strength of the Society in this area and stated that the only reason he could foresee a run on withdrawals amongst Building Societies was if one of our peers was in trouble and The Loughborough were tarnished by association of also being a Building Society.

Products

Mr Peete moved the topic of discussion onto the products that the Society provides and asked the forum if there was a product that we do not currently offer that they would like us to provide. The members asked for guidance as to what sort of products we could offer and Mr Peete outlined plans to offer an IFA service through the Society. This was warmly received as the members confirmed that they trust the Society with their money and so would rather use an IFA via The Loughborough than a standalone High Street outfit. A ‘Wealth Management’ service was discussed which would also naturally sit within an IFA offering.

Mr Peete then discussed the types of products previously requested via the feedback section of the Newsletter and the reasons why they are not quite right for the Society to be offering them at this time (Pet Insurance and Current Accounts)

Society Service Levels and Treating Customers Fairly (TCF)

Mr Peete started this discussion point by apologising for the fall in service standards during the 90 Day ISA offer period, confirming that it wasn’t acceptable and that steps would be taken to ensure that this doesn’t occur again. It was asked of Mr Peete how service levels are measured to which the answer was turnaround times and error rates, both of which suffered at that time. A member confirmed that product education before launch could be improved upon and Mr Brighty confirmed that measures are now in place to monitor product understanding and put in place any necessary measures if this falls short.

TCF was then discussed between the members and Mr Peete and after a brief outline the members felt that the initiative was of no great importance and a cost and resource burden to the Society.

Any other business

Mr Peete then opened the meeting up to the forum to provide feedback on any other area not discussed at the meeting so far. One member mentioned that the Society should become more efficient at communicating new products to those parties who may be interested as currently they hear too late. Mr Brighty outlined that a data exercise was nearly complete that will help with this initiative going forward.

A member then asked if we could look to change the identification requirements for obvious long term members who are known by the Society and Mr Peete outlined steps in scanning documents that will help with this endeavour.

Mr Peete thanked the group for their time and input into the meeting and confirmed that the next forum will be held in January and that he would be delighted if all the members present could become regular forum attendees.
Where People Make The Difference