| Short Title: | Building Societies Act 1986 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to make fresh provision with respect to building societies and further provision with respect to conveyancing services. |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Citation: | 1986 c. 53 |
| Territorial Extent: | United Kingdom |
| Royal Assent: | 25 July 1986 |
| Status: | amended |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/53/contents/enacted |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
The Building Societies Act 1986 (c. 53) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom governing building societies (mutually-owned mortgage-lending institutions).[1] It removed certain restrictions on the range of services they could offer, so that they could compete with banks on a level basis: they could now make unsecured loans, offer cheque accounts, exchange currencies, provide stockbroking services, manage personal equity plans (tax-privileged investment accounts) and portfolios of unit trusts, arrange and advise on insurance, etc.[2] A new regulatory agency, the Building Societies Commission, was set up to supervise the activities of the societies, which were allowed to de-mutualise and become public limited companies subject to the agreement of their depositors.
This act and the Big Bang stockmarket reform, also in the UK, also in 1986, were the two central planks of the move to financial deregulation in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The Financial Services Act 1986 was also part of that movement.
| Short Title: | Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 |
| Type: | Act |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Long Title: | An Act to make provision about the funding of building societies and the assimilation of the law relating to companies and the law relating to building societies. |
| Year: | 2024 |
| Citation: | 2024 c. 18 |
| Royal Assent: | 24 May 2024 |
| Commencement: | 24 July 2024 |
| Amends: | Building Societies Act 1986 |
| Status: | current |
| Original Text: | https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/18/enacted |
| Uk-Leg Title: | Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 |
| Collapsed: | yes |
Under the Building Societies Act 1986, building societies would have had to raise at least 50% of funds, with some qualifications, from customer savings. The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 (c. 18) would amend this to exclude some types of funding held for liquidity purposes or accessed in stress scenarios, from this calculation.[3] [4] The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 also amends the act to allow for meetings to be held through electronic means.[5]