The Nottingham Building Society has reported strong financial results for 2014, when it has also seen the opening of seven new branches and carried out over £2m worth of improvements in its branch network.

Over the year the mutual’s mortgage book grew by 9.3% increasing the balance sheet to a record £3.27bn.

The Society has recorded a strong profit before tax performance of £17.4m – a 36% increase on 2013, another record for the Nottingham.

During the same time branch savings balances increased by 16% during the year and are now in excess of £1.5bn for the first time.

Chief executive David Marlow said: “Throughout 2014 we have continued to work hard to develop and promote our unique proposition; combining excellent customer service with expert advice, great value and choice delivered by a local mutual organisation that people can trust.

“We believe that the role of a modern vibrant Society in the 21st century is to help its customers navigate a steady course through the management of their financial affairs – and to do this successfully we believe the majority of people would benefit from receiving expert advice from a trusted source. At a time when access to advice is becoming harder to find and public trust in the big banks is at an all-time low, we are proud to be the only building society in the UK to offer whole of market mortgage advice to all of our customers.

“The response from customers to our proposition and our strengthening performance and profile in recent years demonstrates the popularity of a service led advice proposition, based on the high street and increasingly available through digital channels. This has been a major underpin to our record breaking performance in the year.

“We know we can do more and are energised by the positive reaction from customers and staff alike. Overall it has been a record year and I am proud to lead the team at The Nottingham. We remain focussed on continuing to strengthen, develop and improve our offering and service to our customers and members.”