Building society

A financial institution offering a range of banking services including savings, current accounts, loans, insurance and mortgages. Unlike banks they are wholly owned by their members rather than external shareholders and can only raise 50% of their funds from the wholesale money markets. Anyone with an account is a member and has certain rights to vote and attend meetings on issues affecting the society. Each member has one vote regardless of the amount of money they have saved or borrowed.

This definition is for general information purposes only