Anger as Dunfermline chiefs escape being held to account

Published on Thursday 2 April 2009 21:45

ANGRY members of the Dunfermline Building Society will be denied the chance to grill directors of the shattered institution after it emerged it has cancelled its annual general meeting.

The cancellation of the meeting where the directors would have been held to account came as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) revealed that the Dunfermline's full accounts would not be published this month as expected.

Instead, financial results for each of the society's component parts – retail, toxic commercial property loans and its social housing portfolio – will be published by their new owners later this year. The accounts, for 2008, were expected to reveal total losses of about 26 million.

The AGM was due to take place before the end of April, but the society, which collapsed last week and had its profit-making retail operation taken over by the Nationwide, said yesterday it was no longer planning to hold the meeting. Instead, it said members would be able to attend the Nationwide AGM, which is due to take place in Birmingham in July.

All of Dunfermline's board members, including chairman Jim Faulds and chief executive Jim Willens, are to stand down as soon as the takeover is completed – and will not be part of the Nationwide management.

Alan Debenham, secretary of the Building Society Members Association (BSMA), set up in the 1980s when the Co-operative Permanent Society was swallowed up by the Nationwide, called for Dunfermline's former board members to be held to account.

He said: "It is quite wrong that members will not have some kind of opportunity to cross-examine the board and find out exactly what happened and why. "They should be able to find out what sort of repercussions there will be and have a chance to ask the questions they want to ask about the past – and also what will happen in the future."

Willie Rennie, MP for Dumfermline and West Fife where the building society has its headquarters, last night promised to call on Nationwide's management to hold a meeting north of the Border

He said: "It is completely unreasonable to expect people from Dunfermline to travel to Birmingham.

"I will be writing to the chief executive of the Nationwide to seek an earlier meeting for members of the society in Scotland."

Rennie added: "I have asked the FSA to carry out a full report into this matter, which would include full details of the Dunfermline's accounts. This report needs to be made public and transparent."

One disgruntled member of the Dunfermline, who asked not to be named, said: "There will be anger at any decision to cancel the annual meeting, which would have presented an opportunity to address the management.

"One has to be suspicious that the board knew the extent of the problems at that time and were withholding information from members of the society."

A spokeswoman for the Dunfermline said: "Customers are now members of Nationwide so will they will be invited to attend Nationwide AGM. Members will be sent details about the AGM in June."