yorkshire building society trading as norwich & peterborough building society type building society mutual industry financial services founded 1860 incorporated 1896 headquarters peterborough business park lynch wood peterborough cambridgeshire pe2 6wz number of locations 45 key people ed anderson chairman chris pilling chief executive products retail banking savings and investments mortgages surveying general insurance broking and share dealing net income 157 million gbp december 2012 total assets 33.5 billion gbp december 2012 parent yorkshire building society website www.nandp.co.uk norwich & peterborough building society or n & p is a trading name of yorkshire building society based in bradford west yorkshire . at the time of merger it was the ninth largest building society in the united kingdom with assets in excess of 4.9 billion . 1 2 it was formed by the merger of the norwich and peterborough building societies in 1986 . the society has over 45 branch offices mainly located in east anglia and the surrounding counties of northamptonshire and lincolnshire but there is also a branch in gibraltar which opened in 1990 . the former head office was opened by her majesty queen elizabeth the second in 1988 on a green field business park at lynch wood peterborough where an important operational presence is retained by the yorkshire . n & p employs over 800 staff of whom roughly half are based at lynch wood . contents 1 history 1.1 merger 2 services 3 subsidiaries 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit manor house former headquarters of the peterborough building society . the norwich building society was founded in 1852 under the imposing title of norwich and district provident permanent benefit building and freehold land society . this was unconnected with the mutual norwich union society for the insurance of houses stock and merchandise from fire which had been founded in 1797 . after the second world war in 1947 the norwich benefit building society incorporated ceasing to act in the name of its trustees and the name was simplified . the society absorbed thetford norfolk and suffolk mutual benefit building society in 1961 . shortly after in 1860 peterborough provincial benefit building society was established by railway workers at the corn exchange peterborough and in 1896 it registered under the building societies act 1874 . 3 the fast growth of the railways had not only created large numbers of workers it had also led to a shortage of housing in the peterborough area . the new society enabled its members to build their own homes in the city . although originally limited to railwaymen the society opened its membership to the general public in 1924 moving to new premises in priestgate . in 1962 its name was changed to the peterborough building society and soon after the head office moved to a refurbished building in market place later renamed cathedral square . the first branch office was opened at march cambridgeshire in 1961 . the society absorbed king s lynn building society in 1967 4 which was based in the offices of the estate agents geoffrey collins & co. at blackfriars street . further mergers followed with stamford building society in 1980 5 and argyle building society in 1985 . 6 norwich and peterborough building society was formed by the merger of the two societies in 1986 . at that time the peterborough s assets were 280m and the norwich s were 176m . an entirely separate city of peterborough and district permanent building society transferred engagements to northampton town and county building society in 1959 . anglia building society was formed by amalgamation of this society with leicestershire building society in 1966 and subsequently merged with nationwide building society in 1987 . 7 merger edit n & p logotype prior to ybs group rebrand used 2009 2014 the society conducted regular dialogues through members meetings and other events . it was clear from these that members had a high level of trust in the society and wished it to continue as a mutual ; a stance confirmed by the board . 8 in order to help maintain normal business activities for the benefit of all members without the disruption caused by speculative activity new customers opening savings accounts providing membership of the society were required to enter into an agreement to assign to the charities aid foundation any windfall benefits to which they may have become entitled in the future as an investing member . in december 2010 it was reported that the society had received a number of takeover approaches and was keeping its options open . 9 10 the society had sold keydata investment services products to some 3 100 customers via its independent financial advisers between november 2005 and june 2009 when the firm was put into administration by the fsa . 11 in july 2009 the serious fraud office commenced an investigation into keydata investment services ltd. following a referral by the fsa . shortly afterwards in november 2009 the society announced the closure of 10 branches largely outside its regional heartland effective march 2010 12 and in january 2011 chief executive matthew bullock announced his retirement once a successor could be found . 13 14 in light of tougher regulation aviva life services uk ltd. formerly norwich union was reappointed to provide financial advice to members . 15 following expressions of interest by us equity firm jc flowers see kent reliance 16 sir richard branson s virgin money 17 18 and coventry building society 19 the board entered into exclusive discussions with yorkshire building society on 19 march 2011 . 20 21 on 22 march the society announced it would repay investor losses arising from the collapse of keydata . 22 mr. bullock stepped down on 31 march ; anne gunther former chief executive of standard life bank was appointed to the role on 20 april 23 and the merger agreed following due diligence . 24 on the board s strong recommendation shareholding and borrowing members voted in favour of the proposal at an extraordinary general meeting held in peterborough on 22 august . 25 fsa approval followed on 23 september 26 and the transfer of engagements was completed on 1 november 27 ending 160 years of independent trading . 28 services edit the society s principal purpose is making of loans which are secured on residential property and are funded substantially by its members . 29 however for its size the society offers a wide range of financial services and advice to its 470 000 customers . cheques and bank giro credits are cleared through hsbc bank plc until 2015 the co operative bank plc and a mastercard branded credit card is issued on behalf of the society by mbna europe bank ltd. 30 share dealing services are currently offered to members by jarvis investment management ltd a member of the london stock exchange since 1984 . 31 as a result of having diversified into areas not traditionally associated with building societies the society s income is no longer solely dependent on mortgages . code note 08 60 81 to 22 january 2015 40 65 00 from 23 january 2015 norwich & peterborough also operates via a telephone call centre based in peterborough and through a fully transactional website . the society has three established affinity accounts with norwich city fc peterborough united fc and lincoln city fc . in 2006 it was endorsed by the football league as its preferred provider of these accounts to championship and lower league clubs . each year the society pays a bonus of up to 1.25 % to the club calculated on the average total balance held in all of their supporters accounts . there are now 27 clubs participating online . the society only offers mortgage facilities for properties in england wales gibraltar or situated in defined geographical areas of the costa del sol and the costa blanca spain . 32 in 2007 it became one of the first building societies to achieve the carbonneutral quality mark . yorkshire building society trading as norwich & peterborough is authorised and regulated by the financial services authority . 33 it is a member of the building societies association 34 and the link interchange network . 35 as n & p is a current account provider existing customers only it is also affiliated to bankers automated clearing services 36 and subscribes to the lending code . 37 since 2001 its atms have been operated by moneybox corporation . 38 yorkshire building society also operates under the trading names of barnsley building society since 2009 chelsea building society since 2010 including the engagements of the former catholic building society and egg since 2011 . 39 the yorkshire is a participant of the financial services compensation scheme ; therefore deposits with any of n & p the yorkshire barnsley chelsea and egg are treated as linked for the purposes the scheme . 40 subsidiaries edit stylised norwich cathedral logo used 1986 2009 refreshed in 2002 the norwich and peterborough group includes the following trading companies which are wholly owned by the parent society norwich and peterborough lbs ltd. 41 trading as astra mortgages norwich and peterborough estate agents ltd. 42 gibraltar norwich and peterborough insurance brokers ltd. 43 norwich and peterborough general insurance ltd. 44 norwich and peterborough sharedealing services ltd. 45 formerly waters lunniss & co. ltd. norwich and peterborough covered bonds llp 46 lynchwood services limited 47 flexible choice limited 48 the former subsidiary hockleys professional limited 49 trading as hockleys surveyors was acquired by estate agents connells residential ltd. in 2007 . 50 see also edit anglia regional co operative society references edit building societies assets building societies association 1 april 2010 building societies database archived march 4 2009 at the wayback machine . kpmg financial services august 2008 registry of friendly societies no. 437b known as the king s lynn and west norfolk permanent benefit building society until 1952 known as the stamford permanent benefit building society until 1975 known as the argyle benefit building society until 1962 until 1992 known as nationwide anglia . extract from building societies yearbook 2007 8 pp. 175 194 & 167 building societies association retrieved 10 january 2008 cook jacqueline ; deakin simon and hughes alan mutuality and corporate governance the evolution of uk building societies following deregulation working paper no. 205 esrc centre for business research university of cambridge june 2001 takeover for norwich and peterborough building society bbc news 17 december 2010 briggs stephen n & p won t rule out merger talk peterborough evening telegraph 17 december 2010 keydata full compensation for lifemark investors bbc news 1 december 2010 branch restructure norwich and peterborough building society retrieved 3 january 2011 reville matthew n & p chief set to retire when successor found peterborough evening telegraph 12 january 2011 norwich & peterborough boss matthew bullock to retire bbc news 12 january 2011 williams sam n & p and aviva in talks over financial advice tie up norwich evening news 12 january 2011 williams sam norwich and peterborough rule out jc flowers takeover eastern daily press 25 october 2010 lowthorpe shaun virgin money linked to norwich and peterborough buyout bid eastern daily press 6 march 2011 montia gill virgin in talks with norwich & peterborough banking times 7 march 2011 montia gill norwich & peterborough bs considers merger banking times 28 december 2010 yorkshire eyes merger with rival society bbc news 18 march 2011 wachman richard yorkshire building society in merger talks with norwich and peterborough the guardian 19 march 2011 norwich and peterborough to repay keydata investors bbc news 22 march 2011 n & p building society appoint new ceo peterborough evening telegraph 19 april 2011 yorkshire and n & p building societies to merge bbc news 20 april 2011 members agree yorkshire and n & p building societies merger bbc news 22 august 2011 fsa confirms norwich & peterborough building society merger with the yorkshire building society financial services authority