Your questions answered

When are you getting an App?

We know how important it is for members to be able to access digital services quickly and easily. It’s a key part of members customer experience with us. Last year we launched our new website, which is optimised to be used on a mobile device. We’ve had 1.1m visits to the website already and 42% of customers are doing this through a mobile phone. Over the last year we have also made significant improvements to our online profile services including customer onboarding and savings maturities.

This year you will be pleased to know we are considering an app. So, whilst we can’t give you a commitment to a date, know that we are working hard to make this happen. 

In the meantime, please continue to share your feedback with us. This year we have captured more feedback than ever through our new Qualtrics customer experience surveys, particularly on our digital experiences, which help us understand where the biggest pain points are for customers so we can work hard to address them and provide members with the quality customer service you rightly expect.

Would it be possible to have an alternative way of accessing your online account other than mobile?

You can access your online profile through a mobile phone, tablet and computer.  Those are the options we have available today.  Please also feel welcome to telephone our branches and we will do our best to support you.

In view of the housing available to first time buyers and ladder climbers, should the Society stop or reduce lending to borrowers who don't plan to be the owner occupiers, either for second homes or buy to let. 

We provide mortgages for members who want to have a holiday home, and we also support members who want to have up to three buy to let properties. It’s a fine balance between not driving up house prices for local communities, whilst also making sure there are rental properties for people who live within the local community who can’t afford to buy.  

Equally, many communities in Wales depend on tourism, therefore, holiday homes also play a vital role in this equation. By allowing people to invest in properties we are also allowing people to prosper throughout their lives. We know that the problem of second homes is being dealt with by the Welsh Government and local authorities to ensure local people can afford to remain within their communities and we welcome this action. Our commercial team also lends to Housing Associations in Wales to help them with delivering good quality affordable homes for the communities they support. 

 

How do you make Members aware of new offers on ISAs and how long will the tax-free period remain? 

We understand that ISAs are a really important savings vehicle for everybody. In terms of understanding what's available, you can choose online or in branch via our rates tables. For members who have ISAs, particularly those that are fixed rates, we write to you ahead of them maturing so that you can easily see the options that are available to you.

The other piece that we recognise has been really important for Members over the last year is the ability to mature easily.  We have changed some of the processes to make that as simple and easy as possible for you and we always offer better rates to maturing customers than to brand new balances.  So please do make sure that you're talking to us if your products are due to mature or you're thinking to change them because there are always maturity rates available and that's part of our loyalty to you.  

With regards to the question round ISA limits, there was obviously a lot of speculation that that may have been changed for cash ISAs reducing down by quite a significant amount in the recent budget.  That didn't happen but remains a live conversation. We're a member of the Building Society Association which represents building societies across the UK.   Rest assured, we're spending a lot of time on this topic and will keep doing so on your behalf.  

 

I take out a regular savings account to get the best rates, but end up with multiple, which is frustrating.  

The regular saver account products offer market leading rates, currently that is 7.5% on a 6 month regular saver but the restrictions being you can only put up to £200 a month in there and can only save for 6 months. The reason the product is structured like that is because in order for us to be able to manage the pricing of it, we can only offer a certain amount of money for a certain amount of time at that rate. Then we need to look at whether that rate is still achievable within the marketplace.  

Will you close branches?

Our commitment to the High Street remains strong. While our Members continue to use, value and recommend our branches, it will form the bedrock of our service offering. 

We are opening a new “Shared Space” offering for customers in Buckley in March/April and we are relocating our Swansea Branch in the Summer.

At our AGM we announced our commitment to maintaining our high street presence until at least the end of 2030. Find out more in our news article. 

 

As a member in Cardiff, I telephoned and was put through to the Chester branch. Has your head office moved?

Our head office remains in Cardiff. We hear feedback all the time about the service that Members feel they receive in our branches and that's why we feel really passionately that it's great that our colleagues in branches can actually answer telephone calls when people ring in. Branch teams previously helped support our head office colleagues in answering phones, however we have now moved all of our telephone calls into branches.   So whenever you ring about the savings accounts, you're going to be talking to a branch colleague. You've also still got the option to ring the branch direct if you want to speak to a particular colleague in a particular branch.  You'll have the same great Principality experience wherever you speak to one of our branch colleagues. 

Why have the directors given themselves and senior management of the society above inflation pay rises when nearly all of the matrices for 2024 are worse than for 2023. Comparing salary's with others in the industry is similar to marking their own homework.

We reward our colleagues, executives and senior leaders through base and variable pay, this mix is within regulatory requirements and also approved by our Remuneration Committee to be appropriate to ensure we remain competitive and retain our people.  To recruit at Executive level is a significant investment in time, money and also lost productivity so we need to ensure we are competitive to retain our leaders, and also we motivate and reward our executives appropriately to achieve the results we strive, whilst operating within a regulatory environment. The Remuneration Committee is made up of Non-Executive Directors, so Executives are not involved in setting their own pay.

2023 was an exceptional year at Principality and as we reviewed our pay for all colleagues and executives. We gave higher than average increases to some executives to align their base pay to the market, this is a similar approach that we have taken with colleagues in previous years.  These increases were effective February 2024.

During 2025, all executives and senior leaders have received an across the board increase in line with all other colleagues. 

What is your CEO Pay Ratio?

This information is covered in our Directors Remuneration Report under the section titled CEO Pay Ratio. Whilst it is not mandatory for us to publish this due to our size and organisation type, we do this in line with best practice and to be transparent. It also allows us to benchmark ourselves against other similar organisations. Our ratio is significantly ahead of our peers.

Are you aware that customers digitally excluded from registering at the AGM?  We can only register via online opportunities.  

We look to try and give members choice in terms of how they register, be that online, via branch or paper. We would never look to exclude members. Members can also update their marketing preferences in their online profile, in branch or via telephone. 

 

How did you choose the new charity partner?

As part of our review of charities, we considered many charities and put that to our colleagues on the basis that they do the vast majority of fundraising.

What is the impact of the US trade tariff announcements on Principality?

The US trade tariff announcements have added to global economic uncertainty. While tariffs applied to the UK are lower compared to some other nations, there are still potential impacts to the domestic economy, through increased inflation and lower growth. This additional uncertainty could make the Bank of England’s job harder, as they attempt to manage interest rates to reduce inflation and encourage growth. This in turn could impact market rates generally, as well as the trajectory for Bank of England base rate, with implications for mortgage and savings rates. 

While it’s too early to understand the full impact of the tariff announcements, we will continue to monitor developments and are well equipped to navigate the challenging economic and political landscape. 

Your CEO mentioned funds from the society to housing associations and I wondered if being an investor that you any clout on the quality of houses being built?

We seek to have strategic conversations with the housing associations we lend to. It's pleasing to see more investment flowing in from the new government in Westminster into housing associations, for more building taking place and improving standards.  There remains a long term issue with the stock of housing. 

Is there an opportunity to vote through the medium of Welsh?

Members can vote in Welsh. Members are welcome to change their preferences to receive communications in Welsh and will receive all AGM correspondence and voting forms in Welsh. Members may also ask a question in Welsh at the AGM.

How long is Principality committed to keeping its high street branches open?

Our commitment to the High Street remains strong – in February 2022 we promised to keep all of our branches open until at least the end of 2025. Feedback from Members continues to confirm that having access to cash and services is vitally important to them, and we see our presence on high streets as a key part of what we offer as a Member-owned building society.

This goes against the trend we are seeing across the rest of the UK and while our Members continue to use, value and recommend our branches, these will form the bedrock of our service offering.

How does the Principality support vulnerable customers, especially during this time of pressures on the cost of living?

Assisting our customers during times of financial hardship is a key priority for us, especially in mind of the current cost of living crisis where household bills and the cost of every-day items are steadily increasing. We recognise our Members face ongoing challenges posed by the cost of living and market uncertainties.

We remain committed to supporting all our Members, and for those who need additional support from us, we are investing in future capability to better support. We are focused on providing outstanding customer service, and therefore have worked hard to provide our colleagues with more tools and guidance to support the needs of our customers.

As part of this process we continuously review our customers’ needs and respond accordingly, and we work with external organisations, aligned to our regulatory requirements. We would encourage anyone who needs support to contact us.

When will we get an app?

We continually review how we can best meet the needs of our Members and consumers who are thinking about placing their savings with us or borrowing money to help them finance buying a home. This includes looking at how Members can interact with us either in person or using digital alternatives.

We are currently working on a number of customer focused initiatives to simplify and improve our online experience and access to it. Whilst an app is not currently one of these, we are constantly striving to make things easier for our customers and Members.

Will you introduce an ATM card so that I can take out money on holiday?

At present we have no plans to provide cards to allow cash withdrawals from an ATM. Please speak to one of our branch staff next time you visit as there might be other ways we can help you access your savings when you are on holiday, such as electronically sending money to your current account (if you have one).

Will Principality allow the government access to our accounts?

The proposed measures are included within the current Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and as the Bill is not yet law, the requirement is not known at this stage.
We assure you that Principality Building Society takes its responsibilities for the protection of Members’ personal data seriously and we would only share personal data where there is a clear legal requirement to do so.

What is Principality’s position on cash and its commitment to cash?

Cash usage had increased in the last 12 months having fallen substantially as a result of Covid19. The Society is trialling OneBanx in Cowbridge, where customers of 23 other banks can access and pay cash into their personal and business bank accounts from within our branches.

Will you introduce Faster Payments for ISA?

We want to ensure we offer the best possible customer experience to our Members, so we are looking at developing our electronic payment capability for ISAs.

Why can’t I invest more than £20k in an ISA?

We want to offer as much flexibility to our Members as possible and are reviewing the permissive (optional) changes that have been made to the ISA regulations with effect from 6 April 2024, such as paying into multiple ISAs, and considering how best to move forward with them.

When are you going to raise savings interest rates?

We constantly review our interest rates to ensure we are offering fair value to our Members and have a number of products which are priced towards the very top of the market, such as the Online Bonus ISA. We change prices regularly to react to market changes and continue to offer the good rates we can across our product range.

Why are your mortgage rates so high?

Our rates have had to rise due to the increase in base rate - from 0.1% in 2022 up to 5.25%. In order to remain competitive in the savings market and offer fair returns, we have had to offer increased savings rates, but we have tried to mitigate this in our increases to our mortgage customers.

We do try to offer preferential rates to our existing mortgage customers when their fixed rate deals end and we continue to review rates as the Bank of England changes their base rate. Our mortgage product range is updated every 3 - 4 weeks to ensure we are offering the most up to date mortgage products.

With the potential for a more positive economic outlook in 2024, we will seek to pass on any opportunity to lower mortgage rates for our Members.

Do you lend to local governments?

The Society does not lend to local governments. The Commercial Team would love to do some more work e.g. joint venture with local governments but councils usually have avenues to provide other funding.

The Society is building relationships with Welsh Government, the council, housing associations and communities.

Why don’t we have a loyalty account?

The Society had loyalty accounts in the past, however the current strategy is about offering great rates to all Members; there are a range of strong products e.g. regular saver product at 6% and branch products.

The Consumer Duty regulation has changed the landscape of how certain products are offered as the focus is on bringing great value to everyone. We are consistently paying above the market in our savings offers, and special rates are offered at maturity for existing customers only.

Why doesn’t the Society offer less than 12 months fixed products?

Based on feedback from the branches, a lot of customers are opting for the 2-year fixed rate products due to the uncertainty in market rates. We have not seen a trend for customers asking for shorter fixed rates.