We are proud to have signed a joint letter from building society and credit union CEOs to the Prime Minister, setting out our shared commitment to help more people into homes, strengthen financial resilience and support communities across the UK.

The letter is a united offer to work with Government and regulators to unlock more of the mutual sector's potential and create the right conditions for mutuals to grow, innovate and serve more people.

Dear Prime Minister,

Many congratulations on your historic election as the first Labour and Co-operative Prime Minister. We warmly welcome the opportunity to work with you and your Government to bring modern mutual solutions that help people into homes and strengthen financial security for households and businesses.

We write as the CEOs of the UK's building societies and credit unions represented by the Building Societies Association. We serve more than 27 million customers and our sector has a proud record of innovation, helping first-time buyers, supporting people with savings and affordable loans, and investing in communities and jobs across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We are uniquely positioned to do more to support your Government's priorities. We are customer-owned, purpose-led, rooted in regions and backed by £670bn of assets. We provide services online and face-to-face through 1,300 branches across the UK. Our profits are reinvested for customers and local economies rather than paid to external shareholders.

Over the past six months, we have worked together on an ambitious strategy for sector growth, Finance for a Fairer Future. This can help deliver against at least two of your key priority areas; housing and homeownership, and financial wellbeing to ease cost-of-living pressures.

We are united in backing the direction of travel set out in this strategy and are confident that, with the right support from Government and regulators, our sector can play a much greater role in delivering tangible benefits for people, businesses, places and the wider economy.

Specifically, to deliver this ambition and growth, we need:

• Action to modernise legislation and unlock the full potential of the mutual sector.
• Better access to cost-effective capital so we can support more affordable and responsible lending to families, first-time buyers and businesses.
• Clearer direction to regulators to encourage innovation, promote a more diverse financial services sector and reduce disproportionate requirements that constrain lending.

We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your team in the coming months. We are ready to work with you to deliver practical changes for people and communities, contribute to your 10-year plan to transform Britain and help meet the Labour Party manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutual and co-operative sector.

We are copying this letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Westhoff
Chief Executive
West Brom Building Society