The Manchester Building Society, a struggling building society with a single branch in Manchester city centre, has warned savers to ensure that their account balances stay below the £75,000 limit covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The society is battling to survive after posting a £4.9m loss for 2015. Chairman David Harding said the long-term future of the mutual is unclear, given the "continuing decline in the scale of operations", but assured members that the board is confident of a "successful outcome".
The society's problems began back in 2013 when new accounting standards required it to change the way it reported the value of its mortgage book, leaving it with inadequate reserves. Since then, it's been winding down its mortgage book and has ceased offering new loans.
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