Record year driven by high levels of customer satisfaction and strong financial performance

We've announced a record profit before tax of £20.5 million for the year ended 31st December 2023.

We saw 6% growth in our mortgage book, surpassing £1.5 billion for the first time in our history and signalling our continued expansion in the mortgage market.

Savings balances grew by 9%. Faced with five Bank of England base rate increases in 2023, we demonstrated our commitment to savers by increasing the average rate paid to our savers by 1.86%, outpacing the 1.75% increase in the Bank of England base rate.

We also revealed impressive figures for our capital reserves, which now stand at £127 million alongside liquidity assets totalling £331 million. These numbers comfortably surpass regulatory requirements, reinforcing our healthy financial position.

One notable development for us during the year was the establishment of our partnership with specialist mortgage lender Roma Finance, enabling us to provide support to people with complex borrowing needs. We aim to expand this partnership further to provide our customers with over £100 million of lending, further solidifying our foothold in the lending sector.

Customer service remained a top priority for us. As measured by independent surveys conducted throughout the year, our 'Customer Experience Score', a comprehensive basket of service quality measures, reached its highest level since before the pandemic emphasising our dedication to customer satisfaction. 94% of customers said that we met or exceeded their expectations, and 95% said that they believed that service quality had been maintained or improved over the year.

In 2023, we participated in the biannual Best Employers (Eastern Region) survey, giving our team members the opportunity to express their views on the culture at The Cambridge. Three quarters of team members took part, and we achieved results that were ahead of our scores from the previous survey two years ago and ahead of the average of other participating businesses.

At the end of 2022, we stepped in to support those in need by setting up its £100,000 Cost of Living Crisis Fund. Over 2023, the Fund supported over 4,000 individuals including children, families, and vulnerable people with essential needs such as food and heating. This was alongside further grants totalling £40,000 awarded to four local charities via The Cambridge Building Society Community Fund.

Our innovative Rent to Home initiative continued to make strides, assisting first-time buyers who struggle to make the leap from renting to home ownership. This ground breaking initiative allows tenants to rent a property from us for up to three years, with 70% of the rent that they pay returned to them at the end of their tenancy for them to use as a deposit in purchasing their own home. In 2023, one tenant completed their Rent to Home journey and received over £18,000 from the scheme, while four new Rent to Home tenants were welcomed into the programme.

We take our commitment to environmental stewardship and community engagement very seriously and we purchased a house in Cambridge with the aim of retrofitting it to improve its environmental credentials. Looking to the future, our intention is to document and openly share all aspects of the retrofitting process, to showcase how green solutions can be delivered in a manner that is both affordable and in sympathy with local architecture. Once the house is fully redeveloped, it will join the Society’s Rent to Home portfolio.

Chief Executive, Peter Burrows, said: “2023 was by all measures a successful year for The Cambridge Building Society.”

“We continued to provide excellent customer service, delivering year-on-year improvements and outstanding levels of customer and employee satisfaction that are validated by independent surveys. 

“Our financial performance is the best it has ever been. 2023 saw high inflation and multiple interest rate increases, but we remained dedicated to finding a fair balance for our borrowers and savers, while at the same time investing in our people to further support the development of our business.

“Our commitment to our community is unwavering, as illustrated by the scale and breadth of our community activity, all focused on helping local people have a home.

“I’m proud of what we have achieved together, and the positive impact it has had on our customers, our communities, and our team members.

“Our focus on serving our loyal members and delivering great customer service has helped us thrive.”