Association of Financial Mutuals
We're Mutual - We Only Work for You
UK financial organisations are all authorised by the Financial Services Authority and are either 'mutuals' or public limited companies (PLCs). Mutual organisations are not owned by external shareholders (like a PLC) but work for, and only answers to customers like you.
Experience & scale
Mutuals typically have over 100 years of experience
and heritage in providing for the savings and protection needs of
their customers (and some have been around a lot longer). They
manage over £80bn in assets and have more than 19 million
customers.
Trust
The managers of mutuals are only responsible to customers
like you, and not to shareholders. Research also shows that on
average mutual customers are more likely to recommend a mutual
organisation than a PLC.
Greater potential value
Research by AFM shows that in 2007 PLC insurers paid out
on average 3.1p to shareholders for every £1 invested by their
customers. With no shareholders to pay, mutuals can ensure that
their profits are only distributed to customers like you, or
reinvested to give you better returns, better value and higher
levels of service.
Better service
With higher levels of customer satisfaction according to
independent surveys, staff in mutuals seem to want to try that bit
harder when their customers can also be the owners of the
organisation they work for.
To find out more go to www.ownedbyyou.org.
