Yorkshire and Barnsley societies to merge
Barnsley Building Society is to merge with larger rival Yorkshire Building Society after revealing a possible 10 million pound writedown from its exposure to two Icelandic banks, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
Build your own home - and save thousandsBarnsley Building Society, which has assets of 376 million pounds, said its exposure to Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and Heritable may lead to a hit of 10 million pounds. The write-down will be fully absorbed by its reserves, it added.
"The proposal follows swift, pre-emptive action from the board of the Barnsley in approaching the Yorkshire to seek a merger after the identification of possible losses of deposits with Icelandic banks," said the building societies.
The shotgun wedding between Yorkshire, the UK's third largest building society, and Barnsley is part of a wave of consolidation amongst building societies, as smaller players approach their larger peers against the backdrop of financial turbulence.
Nationwide, the UK's largest building society, announced its plans to merge with The Derbyshire and The Cheshire Building Societies last month, while earlier this month Britannia Building Society said it is in exploratory talks with the Co-Operative Bank.
(Reporting by Lorraine Turner; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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