Portman Building Society

Infobox_Defunct_Company
company_name = Portman Building Society
company_
type = Building Society (Mutual)
company_slogan =
fate = Merger with Nationwide Building Society
defunct = August 2007
successor = Nationwide Building Society
foundation = 1846
location = Bournemouth, England, UK
industry = Banking and Financial Services
products = Savings, Mortgages, Investments,
Loans, Insurance, Pensions
homepage = [http://www.nationwide.co.uk www.nationwide.co.uk]

The Portman Building Society was a UK mutual building society, providing mortgages and savings accounts to UK consumers and offering loans to commercial enterprises. Its head office was located in Bournemouth and its administration centre in Wolverhampton. Portman merged with the Nationwide Building Society in August 2007 [http://www.bsa.org.uk/docs/consumerpdfs/mergerschronolog.pdf Building Society Mergers and Conversions since 1980] Building Societies Association website (Retrieved 5 April 2007)] , at which time it was the third largest building society in the UK and the largest regional building society in the south of England, with 154 branches and assets exceeding £15 billion.

History

* 1846 Provident Union Building Society is established in Ramsbury, Wiltshire.
* 1881 Portman Chapel Temperance Permanent Benefit Building Society is founded in London.
* 1989 Portman merges with the Wessex Building Society.
* 1990 The Portman Wessex Building Society merges with the Regency & West of England Building Society to form Portman Building Society.
* 1993 Portman merges with the St. Pancras Building Society.
* 1997 Portman merges with the Greenwich Building Society.
* 2001 Portman acquires Sun Bank, a specialist mortgage lender.
* 2003 Portman merges with Staffordshire Building Society, and both are re-branded.
* 2004 Sun Bank changes its name to The Mortgage Works.
* 2006 Portman merges with Lambeth Building Society ] .
* 2006 Portman and Nationwide Building Society announce their merger intentions ] .
* 2007 Portman and Nationwide complete their merger, with Nationwide the successor entity.

Merger

On 12 September 2006, the society announced plans to merge with the Nationwide Building Society, creating a mutual body with assets of more than £150 billion.

A protest group against the merger was created [ [http://www.portmanprotest.com/ Portman Protest web site] - the unsuccessful campaign against the merger of the Portman Building Society with the Nationwide Building Society] , citing loss of jobs, customer service and members' interests as reasons that the merger should not go ahead. Although the campaign attracted significant media attention, the merger was overwhelmingly endorsed by members at the society's AGM on 23 April 2007. After the Financial Services Authority (FSA) endorsed the members' decision on 26 July 2007, the society became part of the Nationwide on 28 August 2007.

References