FAST-GROWING Kent Reliance Building Society has ruled out plans to take over another society, at least for the time being, chairman Malcolm Mackenzie revealed at the mutual’s annual meeting.

Mr Mackenzie was responding to questions prompted by the recent announcement of a proposed merger between the Mercantile and Leeds building societies.

Demutualisation, merger and closures have taken their toll of societies in recent years. Numbers are down from 2,300 in 1900 to around 63 today.

Kent Reliance is now the country’s fastest-growing society with assets of £1.3billion, up 211 per cent over the past five years, record pre-tax profits of £4million, and a falling management expense ratio from £1.42p to 59p.

It has reduced costs partly by outsourcing its processing work to Easiprocess, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore, India.

Mr Mackenzie said the executive team would be considering the implications of the Mercantile/Leeds deal.

"It came as quite a surprise to all of us and we are thinking quite hard about that and what the ramifications are for the rest of the sector," he said. At the moment, the society did not have any "appetite" for a takeover.

But Mr Mackenzie did not completely rule out the possibility. "It’s feasible but I wouldn’t want to make a dramatic line out of it. It’s an option that we would consider, let’s put it like that," he said.

Meanwhile, Kent Reliance planned to provide outsourcing services to other societies through its Indian operation. This would increase Kent Reliance revenue and reduce the costs of other societies.