Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (N&P) is a trading name of Yorkshire Building Society based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Formed by the merger of the Norwich and Peterborough building societies in 1986, at the time of merger with YBS, it was the ninth largest building society in the United Kingdom, with assets in excess of £4.9 billion.^[1][2]

The Society had over 45 branch offices mainly located in East Anglia and the surrounding counties of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire, but there was also a branch in Gibraltar (which opened in 1990 and closed in 2014) and High Holborn, London. The former Head Office was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second in 1988, on a green field business park at Lynch Wood, Peterborough, where an important operational presence is retained by the Yorkshire. N&P employed over 800 staff, of whom roughly half were based at Lynch Wood.

In January 2017, parent YBS Group announced the proposed closure of 28 (later increased to 31) branches, all current accounts and the eventual withdrawal of the N&P brand.^[3][4][5] Remaining N&P branches closed on Friday 6 July 2018 and re-opened on Monday 9 July as YBS branches.^[6]

The Norwich Building Society was founded in 1852 under the imposing title of Norwich and District Provident Permanent Benefit Building and Freehold Land Society. This was unconnected with the mutual Norwich Union Society for the Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire, which had been founded in 1797. After the Second World War, in 1947, the Norwich Benefit Building Society incorporated, ceasing to act in the name of its trustees, and the name was simplified. The Society absorbed Thetford, Norfolk and Suffolk Mutual Benefit Building Society in 1961.

Shortly after, in 1860, Peterborough Provincial Benefit Building Society was established by railway workers at the Corn Exchange, Peterborough and, in 1896, it registered under the Building Societies Act 1874.^[7] The fast growth of the railways had not only created large numbers of workers, it had also led to a shortage of housing in the Peterborough area. The new Society enabled its members to build their own homes in the city. Although originally limited to railwaymen, the Society opened its membership to the general public in 1924, moving to new premises in Priestgate. In 1962, its name was changed to the Peterborough Building Society and, soon after, the Head Office moved to a refurbished building in Market Place (later renamed Cathedral Square). The first branch office was opened at March, Cambridgeshire in 1961. The Society absorbed King's Lynn Building Society in 1967,^[8] which was based in the offices of the estate agents Geoffrey Collins & Co. at Blackfriars Street. Further mergers followed with Stamford Building Society in 1980^[9] and Argyle Building Society in 1985.^[10]

Norwich and Peterborough Building Society was formed by the merger of the two societies in 1986. At that time the Peterborough's assets were £280m and the Norwich's were £176m. An entirely separate City of Peterborough and District Permanent Building Society transferred engagements to Northampton Town and County Building Society in 1959. Anglia Building Society was formed by amalgamation of this Society with Leicestershire Building Society in 1966 and subsequently merged with Nationwide Building Society in 1987.^[11]

The Society's principal purpose was the making of loans which were secured on residential property and funded substantially by its members.^[33] However, for its size, the Society offered a wide range of financial services and advice to its 470,000 customers. Cheques and bank giro credits were cleared through HSBC Bank Plc (until 2015, The Co-operative Bank Plc) and a MasterCard branded credit card was issued on behalf of the Society by MBNA Europe Bank Ltd.^[34] Share dealing services were offered to members by Jarvis Investment Management Ltd. As a result of having diversified into areas not traditionally associated with building societies, the Society's income was not solely dependent on mortgages.

Norwich & Peterborough also operated via a telephone call centre based in Peterborough and through a fully transactional website. The Society had three established affinity accounts with Norwich City FC, Peterborough United FC and Lincoln City FC. In 2006, it was endorsed by the Football League as its preferred provider of affinity accounts to Championship and lower league clubs. Each year the Society paid a bonus of up to 1.25% to the club, calculated on the average total balance held in all of their supporters' accounts. There were eventually 27 clubs participating online.

The Society only offered mortgage facilities for properties in England, Wales, Gibraltar or situated in defined geographical areas of the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca, Spain.^[35] In 2007, it became one of the first building societies to achieve the CarbonNeutral quality mark. Yorkshire Building Society (trading as Norwich & Peterborough) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.^[36] It is a member of the Building Societies Association^[37] and the LINK Interchange Network.^[38] As a current account provider, N&P was also affiliated to Bankers' Automated Clearing Services^[39] and subscribed to the Lending Code.^[40] From 2001, its ATMs were operated by Moneybox Corporation.^[41]

Yorkshire Building Society also operates under the trading names of Chelsea Building Society (since 2010, including the engagements of the former Catholic Building Society) and Egg (since 2011).^[42] The Yorkshire is a participant of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme; therefore, deposits with any of N&P, the Yorkshire, Chelsea and Egg were treated as linked for the purposes the scheme.^[43]

• Anglia Regional Co-operative Society