Profit grew partly due to favourable market conditions but was further enhanced by a strategy to broaden its mortgage offerings, which resulted in mortgage book growth of 3% to £1,439m.
The mutual also reported strong liquidity assets of £361m, up from £303m the previous year. Both liquidity and capital reserves remain well above the thresholds required by financial regulators, thereby strengthening the organisation’s resilience to changing economic conditions.
In parallel with delivering a strong financial performance, The Cambridge improved its customer service from an already enviably high base. In independent surveys, 96% of its customers said they were extremely or very satisfied with the service they received, up from 93% in the previous year. 94% of customers reported that service had either improved or been maintained.
Other achievements during the year included winning a prestigious IT award for seamlessly upgrading its core banking infrastructure to a cloud-based system. It was also among the first building societies to join Pay.UK’s Confirmation of Payee (COP) account name-checking service that helps banks and building societies protect their customers against fraud and accidental misdirected payments.
The Society bucked the trend of branch closures by opening its first new store in 16 years, in the centre of Bury St Edmunds, as well as continuing to expand its local workforce. Its employee count grew to 236 over the year, an increase of 11.
In late summer two of its ‘Rent to Home’ tenants each received more than £20,000, which they used as a deposit to enable them to buy their own first homes. Under The Cambridge’s Rent to Home scheme, they had each rented a property from The Cambridge for three years, and then received back up to 70% of the rent that they had paid to help them buy a home. Three new tenants have since moved into the properties following an audited ballot in October.
The Society also awarded every member of its team £1,000 in September to help with the rising cost of living, and in December it announced the launch of a £100,000 Cost of Living Crisis Fund, in partnership with Cambridgeshire Community Foundation to help local families have access to food, heating and other household essentials during the winter.
CEO, Peter Burrows (pictured), said: “The challenges of 2022 were many and varied, but I am delighted with all that we achieved as a team – for our customers, our team members, and the wider community.
“With interest rates and inflation both rising steeply over 2022, we remain committed to balancing the needs of our borrowers and our savers, whilst also investing in an organisation that supports a local workforce.
“Our purpose has always been to help people have a home, by supporting those who couldn’t buy without our help and by working with our communities to help people have appropriate shelter and housing, while also meeting the needs of savers, by providing a safe place to save.
“I believe that our continued commitment to our loyal members, and our focus on excellent customer service, has enabled us to continue to thrive in challenging times.”
