Letter: Long-term advantages of shareholding

Sir: I find it surprising that your investment and business pages consistently report the long-term advantages of shareholding compared with building society accounts, yet when a demutualisation brings about the opportunity to make this change, you seem nostalgically to support mutuality (Outlook, 27 April). Whilst building society interest rates for borrowers and savers are usually more attractive than comparable bank products, this ignores the fact that the benefits should be compared with returns as an investor in the converted bank and, whilst possibly more volatile, recent history has shown that the total returns are considerably better.

SEAN WOODS

London SW12