The chief executive of the Building Societies Association, Robin Fieth, has announced he will retire from the role at the end of this year.
Fieth succeeded Adrian Coles, who left the position in December 2013, and so has spent 12 years as chief executive of the trade body.
In a LinkedIn post, Fieth said the role has been the “best job I have ever had.”
“Difficult though it is, with so much achieved in the past 12 years, now does feel like the right time to pass the baton on and so I will be leaving the Building Societies Association later this year,” Fieth wrote.
The BSA celebrates 250 years of existence this year, having been founded in 1775 at the start of the industrial revolution.
“In a world seemingly dominated by shareholder owned corporations intent on exploiting their customers for the benefit of increasingly short-term external shareholders, working with a sector that has existed for 250 years to benefit its customer-members, their communities and our society over both the short and long term is so refreshing,” says Fieth in his post.
“Building societies have grown their share of the mortgage market from 18% to 24%, they have helped 1.1 million people buy their first homes and are the principal lenders to all those wanting to build their own homes (collectively the UK’s fifth largest housebuilder).
“Our share of high street branches has grown from 14% to over 30%. And now two building societies have acquired retail banks, re-establishing mutual banking in the UK for the first time since 2013.”
The BSA is now in the process of appointing Fieth’s successor.
