Leeds Building Society has secured an Internal Ratings Based (IRB) permission from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
By granting this permission, the PRA has confirmed the Society is able to assess its own capital requirements for credit risk through the use of internal models.
This ability empowers better business decisions as the Society can measure risk more accurately, as well as further enhancing its capital resilience.
Andrew Greenwood, Leeds Building Society’s chief risk officer, said: “Our customers and mortgage brokers already have seen benefits from IRB - working towards securing permission has helped the Society make more accurate decisions and cut the time it takes to process applications.
“Securing an IRB permission is a significant achievement following a great deal of work over a number of years.
“The permission recognises the quality of our risk management systems and rewards our robust approach to managing and understanding risk.
“It shows the Society has the correct tools in place for us to make the right lending decisions. This underpins our future growth by supporting continued innovation to develop new mortgage products and meet customer need in segments which are not well served by the wider market.
“IRB will help support the sustainable growth of the Society so we can continue to focus on what matters to our members and help even more people to save and have the home they want.”
It also gives independent assurance to rating agencies and other external organisations that the Society measures, manages and controls risk effectively.
An IRB permission is a significant achievement and, to date, has been granted to only a handful of building societies and large banks with a number of other building societies and challenger banks continuing to pursue a permission with the PRA .
