Rivals in sight as Leeds chief quits

David Pickersgill, finance director and deputy chief executive, will take over on January 1 although Mr Ward will remain a director during the first quarter of 2011, until the society's annual general meeting.

Mr Ward, 61, has been chief executive for almost 15 years, having postponed his decision to retire because of the financial crisis.

During his time in charge the Leeds has grown nearly fourfold and remained profitable despite the paroxysms afflicting financial markets.

He told the Yorkshire Post the society was determined to stay independent but said it could merge with smaller rivals.

"If some small societies want to merge into us that is fine but our strong desire is to remain independent. There will be some mergers (in the sector) but not as many as people think."

Mr Ward also warned that Bank of England base rates, currently at a record low of 0.5 per cent, could stay down for a considerable time.

"We have retail price inflation at its highest level for nearly 20 years and the lowest interest rates of my career.

"We sense they will start to ease back up but I don't think it will be in a hurry."

Robin Smith, who will remain as chairman of the Leeds, said: "Ian has been highly successful in leading the society since 1995. We have almost quadrupled in size, achieved profitability each year with the cumulative pre-tax profit total being 481m during this period, our capital and reserves have grown from 161m to 543m and we are now the UK's fifth largest building society.

"Even since the global economic problems started in 2007, we have achieved good levels of profitability with our strong credit ratings from Moody's and Fitch being maintained."

Mr Pickersgill, 57, a chartered accountant who has previously worked with Coopers and Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, said he was "extremely proud" to have worked with Mr Ward and learnt from him and said the challenge would be to deal with how the sector and the economy looked in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

"We are not sure what normality is going to be. We had a period up to the credit crunch which was very buoyant and the market was booming.

"We are not quite sure what the new model is going to be. We are reassured that we have a strong building society and a strong business model.

"It is compounded by pretty significant Government debt so it is all in the mix as to what the model will be. Whatever way it goes the Leeds is in a strong position."

The succession strategy was agreed last year and the Leeds said Mr Pickersgill was the unanimous choice of the board to head the society.

Mr Ward also praised the work of the other directors and said he was confident it would be a "seamless transition" for his successor.

Call for a level playing field

The building society sector has also had to cope with what it sees as an unfair burden of contributions to the Financial Services

Compensation Scheme, which compensated depositors who lost money with the collapse of Bradford & Bingley and the Icelandic banks in 2008.

Ian Ward, chief executive of Leeds Building Society, last year

described the system as "day-light robbery" and yesterday called on the new Government to "be fair" to mutuals.

Asked if he had one demand for his sector from the new Government, he said: "Make sure that we get treated fairly. The mutual model is one that people admire. I think it is vital for the saver to have a choice. I am not saying there is anything wrong with banks, some are good and some bad."

He also said there were signs it was recognising the importance of the mutual sector, which holds 20 million savings accounts. "They have recognised that the mutual model is different."