Good afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen: I would like to welcome you to this very important session.
I am pleased that you have been able to make it to this important event where we are launching our Business Strategy which is from 2013 to 2018. All Branch Managers are also here to share their views and to take word back to our colleagues who have remained at the stations due to logistical constraints. EXCO will, however, visit the branches on this matter.
The key message from our new Strategy is that growing our business will take a lot of hard work. This is especially so taking into consideration the limitations that we face because we are a building society.
Launching a new Strategy to those who will execute it, being yourselves, and its beneficiaries such as our customers and shareholders, is critical. A successful launch, as I am sure this one will be, will make you aware of the new Strategy so that you are also keen to execute it. Thus, it is important to gain your support so that we all enjoy the benefits of success.
For our Shareholders, we have already briefed them about the new Strategy in the latest Annual Report and they will, hopefully, share their views at the Annual General Meeting of 23 August 2013. For our customers and other external audiences, we will tailor make public statements on it so that they also understand where the business is going.
As you are all aware, BBS Bank is undergoing major changes with the main aim of becoming a commercial bank. Therefore, recently, the BBS Bank Board and EXCO met to put together a business strategy for the Society in an independently facilitated workshop. Action items have been developed for the next 5 years hence the theme for today’s event “Same5” which means “my strategy for the next 5 years” to ensure that we all own and live this Strategy.
In developing the Strategy, we answered key points, some of which were:
How it will align with our current core offering being mortgages plus other offerings in the banking area and the ones that we will offer once we are a bank.
Whether it will cast a positive halo on current offerings or diminish their perceived value. We are, therefore, confident that the Strategy will add value to the business in its present form and in the future.
We have no doubt that the Strategy will ensure our continued survival and help us to realize our dream of becoming a bank.
During this session, various areas of the business will give you highlights of what they will be doing over the next 5 few years to help deliver the BBS Bank Strategy. The presentations will provide a clearer understanding of what the Strategy entails.
I also urge you to make comments and suggestions, either during this session or in the future, on how we can improve the Strategy as it is not cast in stone.
Lastly, I wish you well in today’s session.
Thank you.
