Ipswich Building Society has rebranded to Suffolk Building Society, following approval by members.

The lender says the rebrand is designed to “both widen the Society’s appeal and promote growth.”

The change will also adopt a new ‘visual identity’, which is currently being designed and will be unveiled this autumn, including imagery of traditional cast iron street signs and half-timbered houses in Suffolk.

Prior to asking members’ approval to change its name, Ipswich Building Society commissioned third-party research amongst members, staff and the general public in six key locations across the area it serves. The results of this research highlighted that the proposed new name is more inclusive, sustainable and appealing to people within the Society’s home county and beyond. In fact, during the mutual’s 171 year history, there have been various iterations of the company name, several of which referenced its county-wide heritage:

1849 – Ipswich and Suffolk Permanent Benefit Building Society and Ipswich and Suffolk Freehold Land Society established. 1969 – ‘Permanent Benefit’ cut from name resulting in Ipswich & Suffolk Building Society. 1975 – Took in Ipswich & District Building Society resulting in Ipswich Building Society. 2020 – Ipswich Building Society asks members for approval to become known as Suffolk Building Society. Ipswich Building Society chief executive Richard Norrington says:  “Our 171st AGM comes after a challenging year for everybody, and we know that right now, many members will be seeking information about the impact of COVID-19 on the Society’s future operations. I’m delighted that, as an essential service, our branch facilities have remained available with additional measures to safeguard our employees and our visiting members.

“Our members have continued to support the Society throughout the pandemic: we have seen high volumes of business and, in fact, we welcomed nearly 1,500 new savers and opened over 3,000 new savings accounts over the course of our financial year.

“We have always been here to ‘protect the money of generations for generations’ and this is the case both now and in the future as we put in place the processes to implement our change of name. This name change is crucial for the future sustainability of the Society, and I thank our members who voted in favour of our decision.”