LETTER : Why try to be like a bank?

WITH reference to "It's a few decades too late to mourn the death of mutuality" (7 May), about building society mergers, my wife and I have exercised our rights and voted against the Halifax/Leeds "merger".

If a building society wants to be a bank, presumably it has been inspired by the banks' example. These include treating your customers with contempt (learning fast), looking for ways to pay directors inflated salaries (becoming a plc), selling "financial services" on commission (paying staff to reach targets instead of being helpful), putting corporate image above service to customers (never mind how long the queues as long as everybody smiles) and "lending" a few hundred million pounds to South American "republics".

A C Willey

Yeovil, Somerset