Nottingham Building Society is pushing ahead with plans to launch a Lisa, despite MPs on the Treasury select committee have called for the abolition of the Lifetime Isa (Lisa), saying it was too complex and not popular among savers.
Despite yesterday's (26 July) calls by the Treasury select committee to abolish the Lisa, the society stated it will launch a cash Lifetime Isa (Lisa) later this summer.
Launching initially in branch, an online offering will be added later in the year opening up The Nottingham to a large group of potential new members.
The society revealed their plans as part of half year results that showed total assets have grown to nearly £4bn, with bosses citing the ‘all under one roof’ advice and service proposition as the reason why.
The society's results for the first six months of this year revealed gross lending stood at £465m and its mortgage book grew by 3.7 per cent.
More than 13,000 new members joined the society in the six months as its branch network expanded to 67.
David Marlow, chief executive of The Nottingham, said: "At the beginning of the year we undertook to move forward from our firm foundations, focusing on the four key pillars of growing and rewarding membership; strong financial adequacy; operational excellence and people, culture and community.
"At the half year point we are pleased to report good progress. In terms of growing and rewarding membership we have welcomed over 13,000 new members to the society. The seven new branches, which we added to our network at the end of 2017, have performed ahead of expectations and are now fully embedded into our 67 branch network.
"Whilst branches remain key to our strategy, we are acutely aware of the significant societal changes taking place around us which is reshaping the way in which customers and potential members expect to receive their advice and service. This has been underscored by the well-chronicled challenges being faced in 2018 by retail businesses of all shapes, sizes and reputation.
"We expect this shift to be fully reflected in financial services in the months and years ahead and that is why it is essential for us to continue to invest heavily in the society's capability, both for today and for the future."
The group also reported a pre-tax profit of £6m, while arrears levels remained at a historic low level.
aamina.zafar@ft.com
