Letter: Profitable customers

Sir: Your criticism of Britannia Building Society's customer information system is baffling (leading article, 14 December).

Obviously, the financial needs of children are different from those of young people starting work, parents of young children or those who have recently retired, and our database helps to match customers' requirements with the right products and services.

The only way in which we treat groups of members differently is by ensuring that we do not waste time and money offering unsuitable products for them. Otherwise, all of our members receive the same high standards of customer services that they have come to expect from Britannia.

One element of this customer service is the right to confidentiality. It is the national press which wrongly identified one of our members as unprofitable, not Britannia itself.

GRAHAM STOW

Group Chief Executive

Britannia Building Society

Leek, Staffordshire