Icelandic losses force Barnsley BS to join Yorkshire

While Barnsley admits its cash reserves can cover the lost deposits from the Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander and Heritable banks, its board determined a merger would be in the best interests of its members. Yorkshire, the UK's third largest society, has more than 1.9m members, 136 branches and over £20bn in assets – while Barnsley has 60,000 members, eight branches and £376m in total assets. The combined entity will be called Yorkshire Building Society but Barnsley's name and all its branches will be retained. Barnsley savings accounts will move to the Yorkshire, but on “better terms a...