The Principality Building Society: Time For A Name Change?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometimes in this blog a topic comes up completely at random. So random in fact that  it occurs to me a few minutes before I go to bed! That's what happened to me yesterday.

I'd watched Brazil draw 1-1 with Switzerland in the World Cup. Aside from their goal Brazil was just ordinary and their supposed star player Neymar though fouled constantly throughout the game reacted as if being attacked by an army of Ninjas.

When the match finished I just so happened to glance at Twitter and noticed a complaint that there were some people in Wales that still described it as a Principality, or like Welsh culture minister Dafydd Ellis-Thomas advocate Wales be described like this to the outside world to attract tourism.

So, to be clear, Wales  has not been a Principality (ie ruled by a Prince) since the Sixteenth century. And yet the word sticks to the nation like a leech.

This led my brain (Yes that's how my brain works) to the Principality Building Society.

The Principality Building Society, founded in 1860 is the largest Welsh building society and the eighth largest in the the UK. It's also a very dull institution,and long may that continue. It has the air of old fashioned reliability that used to be the trademark of British financial institutions. A rule of thumb is that the sexier the  financial organisation the more  cautious you should approach it. So let me say it now.

I have a savings account there, as does my daughter. Long before I had any idea of the connotations of the word. So let me suggest it here.

The Principality Building Society should change it's name.

The society currently has the naming rights to the Millennium Stadium where Wales plays it's rugby internationals. It is therefore a showcase to the world for Wales. So what's the name of the stadium? The Principality stadium. A nation playing on the stadium that suggests it was mainly the plaything of the heir to the British monarchy. Not even you would note worth the attention of the monarch.

It would not be a quick and cheap process. It would of course need the approval of it's members (it's a mutual society) But you know what sometimes principles should come first for the Principality rather than cost

And the other issue would be the new name. Obviously it couldn't be the Prince Of Wales Building Society (defeating the whole object of a name change). So perhaps I could suggest something out of the box....or perhaps well and truly in it....

....Wales Building Society. Says everything you need to know.

Until the next time.