'Safest' bank records strong results

02/12/2008

A bank thought to be Britain's safest is prospering in the credit crunch.

Stafford Railway Building Society - a small firm which has a conservative lending policy and does not pay big bonuses to bosses - is set to declare a net income of £1 million at its upcoming profits declaration.

The bank's performance stands in stark contrast to that of other firms, who have lost billions due to the credit crunch.

Many banks have either traded in complicated, now-valueless, financial products - or relied too much on the debt markets to raise revenue, leaving them vulnerable when lending on these markets dried up in the crisis.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mike Heenan, chief executive of the Stafford Railway Building society, said: “We think our model has worked well over the years.

"We never lend out more than we get in from retail deposits. We have never made a loss."

The building society is 131 years old.

Tags; Debt Management and Banking, Young Family Finances,

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