The Building Societies (General Charge and Fees ) Regulations 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulation supersede the Building Societies (General Charge and Fees) Regulations 1998, which are revoked. They provide for a general charge to be paid by authorised building societies towards the expenses of the Building Societies Commission. The charge is levied with respect to the Commission’s accounting year beginning on 1st April 1999 and ending on 31st March 2000 and is expected to raise £2.9 million in aggregate. Societies with assets of $45 million or less are required to pay a sum of £3,750 plus a sum equal to 0.00182 per cent of their assets. Societies with assets of more than £45 million are required to pay a sum of £5,000 plus a sum equal to 0.00182 per cent of their assets up to £30,000 million and 0.00091 per cent of their assets above that amount. In the case of a society formed by a recent amalgamation, a sum of £10,000 is payable plus a sum equal to the same percentage of the aggregated value of the uniting societies. The same fixed sums are payable as in the Commission’s previous accounting year. The asset percentages have been reduced but the assets threshold has been increased from £40 million to £45 million. All societies will pay less than in the previous accounting year and the extent of the reduction will depend on each society’s assets.

The Regulations also provide for fees to be paid in respect of functions of the Building Societies Commission under the Building Societies Act 1986 and in respect of functions of the Central Office of the Registry of Friendly Societies under the 1986 Act. The Regulations further provide for fees to be paid for copies of documents held by the Central Office. Some of the fees payable in respect of Commission functions have been increased by an average of 5%. The fee payable for maintenance of a society’s public file by the Central Office has been increased by 2.7%. The changes to the fees are as follows:

Nature of Application	Fee Payable 1998–1999	Fee Payable from 1999
	£	£
1.  Authorisation of a building society	1,500	1,575
2.  Mergers of building societies (a) full fee	12,050	12,650
(b) initial fee	8,100	8,500
(c) fee in respect of bearing	3,950	4,150
3.  Maintenance of building society’s public file	185	190

A review of the cost to business of compliance with these Regulations has been undertaken. The resulting regulatory impact assessment is available from the Secretary, Building Societies Commission, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS.