Woolwich Building Society

The Woolwich, named after a suburb in southeast London in the Borough of Greenwich, was the trading name of the Woolwich Building Society. The term building society first appeared in the United Kingdom in the 19th century to describe a member-owned financial institution, providing banking and other financial services, and specializing in mortgage loans.
Founded in 1847, the Woolwich is considered one of the very first building societies and until the late 90s of the 20th century, the body remained one of the largest institutions of this kind in the UK.

In 1997, the Woolwich Equitable Building Society converted its mutual status into a banking one and the Woolwich PLC was established.

The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until August 2000, when the entity was purchased by the Barclays Bank Group of companies. Initially, the company kept its brand name Woolwich and its headquarters in Bexleyheath, southeast London, five miles from the original office in Woolwich.

In June 2006, Barclays announced that Woolwich branches would be either closed or re-branded as Barclays. Woolwich accounts were transferred to Barclays in the first half of 2007. The Woolwich is now a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC.

Barclays Bank PLC is ranked by Forbes as the 25th largest company in the world and the second largest bank in the UK, based on the size of its assets. The bank is registered in England with headquarters address listed as: 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP. Barclays PLC has 148,000 employees and offices around the world. In addition to the London headquarters, Barclays largest offices are located in Warrington, United Kingdom, and Bombay and Delhi in India.

Barclays PLC operates in Africa, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Latin America, and Asia. The bank is listed on the London and the New York stock exchanges. Its London Stock Exchange (LSE) symbol is BARC. The entity is also a part of the FTSE 100 Index.

Along with the re-branding of the Woolwich offices in 2006, Barclays announced that Woolwich was to become the Barclays` UK mortgage brand. Today, as part of Barclays, Woolwich deals exclusively with mortgage lending and offers fixed rate, tracker, offset, buy-to-let and first-time buyer mortgages. Woolwich residential mortgages come with 1, 2, 5 and 10-year fixed rate mortgage options while preferential rates are available for Buy To Let investors.

In addition to the Woolwich mortgages, Barclays PLC provides a full range of banking and financial services including all kinds of insurance, current accounts, savings and investment through Barclays Capital, credit cards, preferential banking, personal loans, business and commercial banking.