KENT Reliance Building Society has defended a bosses’ break at an Egyptian seaside resort.

Three executives who lay on a beach and drank beer came under pressure at the annual meeting to explain their decision to spend several days in Sharm al-Sheikh.

A questioner wanted to know why it took three society executives to go off to a resort in Egypt. "What’s wrong with our resorts here?" she asked.

Mike Lazenby, the society’s £300,000 a year chief executive, said it was the second time that he, his deputy Rob Procter and finance director Bob Scruton had visited the resort.

The trip was designed to produce good ideas and was taken in the executives’ own time and at their own expense.

He said: "On a cold winter’s day in Kent, you can’t get the same kind of ambience as you do lying on a beach and drinking a beer.

"Effectively, we are on holiday and choose to spend time together in our leisure time to talk about the society. I don’t know any other building society executives who do this."

Mr Lazenby told members that he spent 99 per cent of his life at Kent Reliance in Sun Pier, Chatham, with its view over the River Medway.

"Occasionally, you will forgive us for wanting to go somewhere else and Egypt is as good a place as any. But we still think about the business on your behalf and, hopefully, we’re not doing a bad job."

Kent Reliance has become the fastest-growing building society in the UK by offering strong products and cutting costs by offloading local offices to agencies and outsourcing work to its EasiProcess subsidiary in Bangalore, India.

A similar brainstorming visit to Egypt last May resulted in the introduction of an inter-generational mortgage that attracted widespread publicity.

The society announced three new savings products at the annual meeting in Buckmore Park, Chatham – one for savers over 60, another for young savers, and one that would enable savers to donate interest to a favoured charity. This is still subject to regulatory approval but is thought to be a first for a UK building society.

Society assets rose to £1.6bn last year, up 25 per cent on the previous year. Mortgage advances went up 21 per cent to £347m. Expenses fell to 50p for every £100 of assets, the lowest in the industry.

Members overwhelmingly backed the reappointment of Mike Lazenby as chief executive of Kent Reliance.