Bristol's National Friendly on why you need to know who owns your insurance company

BRISTOL, U.K. - May 1, 2022 - PRLog -- A mutual is a company, typically an insurer or building society, which is owned by their members, and operated for their benefit.

Owned by their policyholders who become members and not having to pay profits away to shareholders has historically given mutuals a powerful weapon: profits can be retained and recycled for the benefit of all members. Originally founded as self-help organisations, sometimes with a simple objective in mind, supporting each-other in their time of need.

Graham Singleton, CEO of Bristol-based National Friendly explains, "Having no shareholders, being owned by our members and working for their benefit, whether through innovative products or our community programmes, is at the heart of our ethos. We are a community and people-centred organisation with a long and proud history."

Health, protect and to serve
Oliver Jones, Head of Sales & Marketing notes: "As a mutual, we focus on our members and their needs. That thinking expands beyond the traditional client to also include our intermediaries, service providers, the environment, community partners and anyone else involved within the work we do. That is the key to why mutuality matters to us."

Modern mutuality
Mutuals such as National Friendly now recognise not just the importance of caring for customers, but also supporting their staff and the communities they live in. Increasingly, the modern mutual realises that a healthy local community also plays a vital part for any business. Where a mutual like National Friendly is seen to be doing good for the community it lives in, supports and serves, this promotes the idea of working together for mutual benefit.

In today's world, National Friendly's work translates into wide ranging support for charities and local community initiatives.

Jones ends "We have an extensive and long running community support programme which staff and the business both embrace. Monies raised by staff are often matched by company contributions. At its heart, our charitable and community work has a simple objective, to make a fundamental difference to local lives, both today and tomorrow."

Mutuality matters!
Whilst profit may be the sign of a healthy and well-run company, it is how those surplus funds are used that determines the true face and culture of a business. Mutuals recycle profit to make sure they survive long into the future, but they also realise that without their customers, a healthy local community and their business partners, this can all disappear quickly. So a hallmark of the modern mutual is now not only a focus on customers and service, but also on community.