ROOF Blog

Britain’s oldest building society is to be taken over by the much larger Skipton Building Society. The Chesham, which was founded in 1845, said that it had been badly squeezed by economic and interest rate conditions and was loss-making at the operating level last year. The society boasts 20,000 members and three branches in the Buckinghamshire commuter towns of Chesham, Aylesbury and Little Chalfont. Skipton has promised to keep the three branches and an agency in Tring open for at least 12 months. There will be no compulsory redundancies among branch staff, but some head office employees will lose their jobs. The deal will require approval from both Chesham members and the Financial Services Authority.