Yorkshire Building Society is distributing payments to eligible savers and borrowers of Barnsley Building Society following the recovery of significant sums invested in two Icelandic banks which went into administration in 2008.
The Yorkshire is making the payments after a four year process which has led to the successful recovery of just over £8.8 million of the £10 million invested by Barnsley Building Society with two Icelandic banks, Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd and Heritable Bank plc, prior to its merger with the Yorkshire on December 31, 2008.
The Yorkshire made a commitment at the time of the merger to pursue recovery of these investments and, if successful, consider an ex-gratia payment from the proceeds to eligible Barnsley Building Society members. The Yorkshire is confident that £8.8 million is the largest possible amount it could reasonably expect to be recovered from the investments.
Around 28,000 account holders at Barnsley Building Society will receive a payment as part of the distribution. Eligible savers are defined as sole or first-named account holders with a combined savings balance of at least £100 on October 21, 2008. Eligible borrowers are defined as sole or first-named borrowers on a Barnsley Building Society mortgage who owed at least £100 on the same date.
In addition, to qualify as eligible members, savers and borrowers are required to have maintained continuous saving or borrowing membership as appropriate between October 21, 2008 and October 21, 2012 with one or more of the brands within the Yorkshire Building Society Group.
Eligible savers will receive payments equivalent to 3.31 per cent of the total savings balance held with the Barnsley Building Society on October 21, 2008. Under the Scheme Rules the minimum gross payment will be £25 with payments capped at a maximum gross sum of £5,000.
All eligible borrowers will receive a gross payment of £250. Eligible members have already started to receive payments and the distribution process should be completed 21 December, 2012.
