Bristol & West

History

The society was founded as the "Bristol, West of England and South Wales Permanent Building Society" in 1850.

By 1996, Bristol & West was the ninth largest building society in the United Kingdom, with 1.1 million customers.

After the Building Societies Act 1986 relaxed rules on building societies and permitted them to demutualise and convert into banks, a number of building societies did so. In July 1997, Bristol & West demutualised and was acquired by the Bank of Ireland for £600m (€882m), becoming a UK division of the Bank of Ireland, but maintaining its operations and branch network under the existing Bristol & West brand identity.

In December 2003, the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined the Bank of Ireland owned Bristol & West subsidiary "Chase de Vere Financial Solutions" for the "approval and issue of a misleading direct offer promotion".

In 2005, the Bank of Ireland sold its Bristol & West plc savings and investment business to the Britannia Building Society for £150 million. The deal also included Bristol & West's 97 branches, as well as its direct savings business. The sale did not include the Bristol & West brand name, which was retained by the Bank of Ireland. Existing Bristol & West account holders were transferred to a Britannia-branded product, and all branches assumed the Britannia brand identity.

The Bank of Ireland continued to offer B&W mortgages to intermediaries,

On 8 January 2009, the Bank of Ireland announced to the stock market that it would close its Solihull and Reading processing centres (the Reading Centre processed Bank of Ireland mortgages only) and, as of 9 January 2009, Bristol & West mortgages would cease accepting new customers, though the brand would continue for existing mortgage customers.

The Bristol & West brand name has since been replaced by the Bank of Ireland brand. Bristol & West plc shares were still publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange until June 2023, when the Bank of Ireland decided to redeem the outstanding Bristol & West preference shares and liquidate Bristol & West plc.

Arms

References

References

1. "Bristol & West plc BWSA stock". [[London Stock Exchange]] (LSE).
2. "Bristol & West plc BWSA our story". [[London Stock Exchange]] (LSE).
3. "People and Houses 1850-1965 – Bristol & West Building Society". Bristol Archives.
4. (15 April 1996). "Bristol & West goes to Bank of Ireland for £600m". [[The Independent]].
5. Heffernan, Shelagh. (March 2003). "The Effect of UK Building Society Conversion on Pricing Behaviour". Faculty of Finance, CASS Business School.
6. "Chase de Vere fined 165,000 over misleading precipice and high income bond promotion". Financial Services Authority.
7. Osborne, Hilary. (24 May 2005). "Britannia to acquire Bristol & West".
8. Treanor, Jill. (25 May 2005). "Bristol & West to be a building society again".
9. Daley, James. (10 January 2009). "Bristol & West closes to new business after over 150 years of trading".
10. Brignall, Miles. (10 January 2009). "After 158 years, the end is nigh for Bristol & West".
11. "Bristol & West plc – Interim Management Report for the six month period to 30 September 2010". Bristol & West plc.
12. Mulligan, John. (22 June 2023). "UK's Bristol & West building society liquidated by Bank of Ireland".
13. "Bristol and West Building Society". Heraldry of the World.