Question: Which mutual building society, based in Leek, merged with a mortgage lending subsidiary of the cooperative bank in 2009?
Context: A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization.  Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending.  Building societies exist in the United Kingdom (UK), and used to exist in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries.  They are similar to credit unions in organisation, though few enforce a common bond.  However, rather than promoting thrift and offering unsecured and business loans, the purpose of a building society is to provide home mortgages to members.  Borrowers and depositors are society members, setting policy and appointing directors on a one-member, one-vote basis.  Building societies often provide other retail banking services, such as current accounts, credit cards and personal loans.  The term "building society" first arose in the 18th century in Great Britain from cooperative savings groups. Suomen AsuntoHypoPankki is a Finnish bank specialized in mortgage lending.  The parent company of Suomen AsuntoHypoPankki is The Mortgage Society of Finland, a building society established in 1860.  The Mortgage Society has more than 10,000 members. Bristol & West (B&W) was a former building society in the United Kingdom, one of the first to be demutualised to become a commercial bank.  It became a division of the Bank of Ireland in 1997.  Bristol & West had its headquarters in Bristol, England.  The bank's main activity was mortgage lending for residential and commercial customers, although in 2009 its business was transferred to Bank of Ireland and it became a shell company and stopped accepting new customers.  The Bristol & West name has since been replaced by the Bank of Ireland brand. The National & Provincial Building Society was a mutual building society based in Bradford, England.  It was established in 1982 by a merger between the Provincial Building Society and the Burnley Building Society. Loan modification is the systematic alteration of mortgage loan agreements that help those having problems making the payments by reducing interest rates, monthly payments or principal balances.  Lending institutions could make one or more of these changes to relieve financial pressure on borrowers to prevent the condition of foreclosure.  Loan modifications have been practiced in the United States since The 2008 Crash Of The Housing Market from Washington Mutual, Chase Home Finance, Chase, JP Morgan & Chase, other contributors like MER's.  Crimes of Mortgage ad Real Estate Staff had long assisted nd finally the squeaky will could not continue as their deviant practices broke the state and crashed.  Modification owners either ordered by The United States Department of Housing, The United States IRS or President Obamas letters from Note Holders came to those various departments asking for the Democratic process to help them keep their homes and protection them from explosion.  Thus the birth of Modifications.  It is yet to date for clarity how theses enforcements came into existence and except b whom, but t is certain that note holders form the Midwest reached out in the Democratic Process for assistance.  FBI Mortgage Fraud Department came into existence.  Modifications HMAP HARP were also birthed to help note holders get Justice through reduced mortgage by making terms legal.  Modification of mortgage terms was introduced by IRS staff addressing the crisis called the HAMP TEAMS that went across the United States desiring the new products to assist homeowners that were victims of predatory lending practices, unethical staff, brokers, attorneys and lenders that contributed to the crash.  Modification were a fix to the crash as litigation has ensued as the lenders reorganized and renamed the lending institutions and government agencies are to closely monitor them.  Prior to modifications loan holders that experiences crisis would use Loan assumptions and Loan transfers to keep the note in the 1930s.  During the Great Depression, loan transfers, loan assumption, and loan bail out programs took place at the state level in an effort to reduce levels of loan foreclosures while the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Trade Commission, Comptroller, the United States Government and State Government responded to lending institution violations of law in these arenas by setting public court records that are legal precedence of such illegal actions.  The legal precedents and reporting agencies were created to address the violations of laws to consumers while the Modifications were created to assist the consumers that are victims of predatory lending practices.  During the so-called "Great Recession" of the early 21st century, loan modification became a matter of national policy, with various actions taken to alter mortgage loan terms to prevent further economic destabilization.  Due to absorbent personal profits nothing has been done to educate Homeowners or Creditors that this money from equity, escrow is truly theirs the Loan Note Holder and it is their monetary rights as the real prize and reason for the Housing Crash was the profit n obtaining the mortgage holders Escrow.  The Escrow and Equity that is accursed form the Note Holders payments various staff through the United States claimed as recorded and cashed by all staff in real-estate from local residential Tax Assessing Staff, Real Estate Staff, Ordinance Staff, Police Staff, Brokers, attorneys, lending institutional staff but typically Attorneys who are also typically the owners or Rental properties that are trained through Bankruptcies'.  that collect the Escrow that is rightfully the Homeowners but because most Homeowners are unaware of what money is due them and how they can loose their escrow.  Most Creditors are unaware that as the note holder that the Note Holder are due a annual or semi annual equity check and again bank or other lending and or legal intuitions staff claim this monies instead.  This money Note Holders were unaware of is the prize of real estate and the cause of the Real Estate Crash of 2008 where Lending Institutions provided mortgages to people years prior they know they would eventually loose with Loan holders purchasing Balloon Mortgages lending product that is designed to make fast money off the note holder whom is always typically unaware of their escrow, equity and that are further victimized by conferences and books on HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN REAL STATE - when in fact the money is the Note Holder.  The key of the crash was not the House, but the loan product used and the interest and money that was accrued form the note holders that staff too immorally.  The immoral and illegal actions of predatory lending station and their staff began with the inception of balloon mortgages although illegal activity has always existed in the arena, yet the crash created "Watch Dog" like HAMP TEAM, IRS, COMPTROLLER< Federal Trade Commission Consumer Protection Bureau, FBI, CIA, Local Police Department, ICE ( The FBI online Computer crime division receives and investigates computer crimes that record keeping staff from title companies, lending institutional staff, legal staff and others created fraudulent documents to change payments and billing of note holders to obtain the money note holders are typically unaware of) and other watch dog agencies came into existence to examine if houses were purchased through a processed check at Government Debited office as many obtained free homes illegally.  Many were incarcerated for such illegal actions.  Modifications fixed the Notes to proper lower interest, escrow, tax fees that staff typically raised for no reason.  Many people from various arenas involved in reals estate have been incarcerated for these actions as well as other illegal actions like charging for a modification.  Additionally Modifications were also made to address the falsifications such as inappropriate mortgage charges, filing of fraudulently deeds, reporting of and at times filing of fraudulent mortgages that were already paid off that were fraudulently continued by lenders staff and attorneys or brokers or anyone in the Real Estate Chain through the issues of real estate terms to continue to violate United States Laws, contract law and legal precedence where collusion was often done again to defraud and steal from the Note Holder was such a common practice that was evidence as to why the Mortgage Crash in 2008 occurred for the purpose of wining the prize of stealing form Homeowners and those that foreclosed was actually often purposefully for these monies note holders were unaware of to be obtained which was why Balloon mortgages and loans were given to the staff in the Real Estate Market with the hoper and the expectation that the loan holders would default as it offered opportunity to commit illegal transactions of obtaining the homeowners funds.  While such scams were addressed through modifications in 2008.  The Market relied heavily on Consumers ignorance to prosper, ignorance of real estate terms, ignorance on what they were to be charged properly for unethical financial gain and while staff in real estates lending arenas mingled terms to deceive y deliberate confusion consumers out of cash and homes while the USA Government provided Justice through President Obamas Inception and IRS Inception of Modifications which addressed these unethical profits in Reals Estate.  It was in 2009 that HARP, HAMP and Modifications were introduced to stop the victimization of Note Holders.  Taking on the Banks that ran USA Government was a great and dangerous undertaking that made America Great Again as Justice for Consumers reigned.  Legal action taken against institutions that have such business practices can be viewed in State Code of Law and Federal Law on precedent cases that are available to the public.  Finally, It had been unlawful to be charged by an attorney to modify as well as fro banking staff to modify terms to increase a mortgage and or change lending product to a balloon in an concerted effort to make homeowner foreclose which is also illegal, computer fraud and not the governments intended purpose or definition of a modification. The Mortgage industry of the United Kingdom has traditionally been dominated by building societies, but from the 1970s the share of the new mortgage loans market held by building societies has declined substantially.  Between 1977 and 1987, the share fell drastically from 96% to 66% while that of banks and other institutions rose from 3% to 36%.  The major lenders include building societies, banks, specialized mortgage corporations, insurance companies, and pension funds.  During the four years following the Financial crisis of 2008 the UK mutual sector provided approximately 80% of net lending to the housing market.  There are currently over 200 significant separate financial organizations supplying mortgage loans to house buyers in Britain of which the Lloyds Bank and the Nationwide Building Society have the largest market share. The Cambridge Building Society is a UK mutual building society based in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.  It is the 14th largest in the United Kingdom based on total assets of £1,128 million at 31 December 2015.  It is a member of the Building Societies Association.  The Society was formed in 1850 as the Cambridgeshire Permanent Benefit Building Society, adopting its current name in 1945.  There is no connection between this Society and the Cambridge Foresters’ Benefit Building Society which was dissolved in 1960 or the Cambridge Peers Economic Building Society which was dissolved in 1972. The Portman Building Society was a mutual building society in the United Kingdom, providing mortgages and savings accounts to consumers and offering loans to commercial enterprises.  Its head office was in Bournemouth and its administration centre in Wolverhampton.  Portman merged with the Nationwide Building Society in August 2007, at which time it was the third largest building society in the UK and the largest regional building society in the south of England, with 154 branches and assets exceeding £15 billion. Britannia was a mutual building society in the United Kingdom.  It had its headquarters in Leek, Staffordshire, and was the second largest building society in the UK based on total assets of £36.8 billion at 31 December 2007.  It became an important provider of both mortgages (including subprime mortgages through its Platform Home Loans subsidiary) and savings, as well as commercial lending. Platform Home Loans is the intermediary mortgage lending subsidiary of The Co-operative Bank.  The current incarnation of the firm was launched in February 2003 following the merger of Britannia Building Society subsidiaries Platform Home Loans and Verso.  The firm became part of the Co-operative Bank group when that firm merged with Britannia in 2009.
Answer: Britannia Building Society