AGM votes raise £36k for charity

Members of Britannia Building Society have once again reinforced the Society's mutual status by casting their votes at its Annual General Meeting (AGM).

More than a quarter of Britannia members returned their voting forms at the AGM, which was held today (19 April 2007) at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent. For the seventh year running, the Society pledged to donate 10p for each vote cast to charity. As a result of members' votes, Britannia handed over a cheque for £36,299 to CLIC Sargent, the UK's leading children's cancer charity.

In addition to voting for the Directors who will lead Britannia's business, members were asked to give their thoughts on Britannia's charitable giving and environmental policies.

Britannia's chairman, Ian Adam said: "Britannia's members are the owners of the business and it is important that they are involved in the Society's future. For that reason, in addition to endorsing how the Society is managed, we also asked members to have a say in Britannia's approach to social and ethical issues through a unique member survey."

Britannia believes it is the first financial services organisation to engage its members in this way and nearly 200,000 members completed the short questionnaire that was sent out as part of the voting packs. The returned questionnaires show that members strongly support Britannia giving one percent of its annual profits to community and charitable organisations every year.

Ian Adam said, "Britannia has a higher turnout of voters at its AGM than any other building society and I am delighted that nearly 26 percent of our membership continue to engage with us to help steer policy as well as vote in favour of mutuality."

Unanimously re-elected to the Britannia Board are Ian Adam, chairman and non-executive directors, Rodney Baker-Bates, Christopher Jones and Bridget Rosewell.

Following the AGM, Britannia Building Society non-executive director Helen Keays resigned from the Board with immediate effect.

Mrs Keays, 43, joined the Board in 2004. She is leaving to concentrate on other business interests – she is a non-executive director of Chrysalis Group plc and Majestic Wine plc.

We're very grateful for the strong contribution Helen has made over the last three years and we wish her well," said Britannia chairman Ian Adam.