ANDY Lay of Giggleswick has been appointed head of branch operations for Skipton Building Society.

He will take charge of the society's team of eight regional managers, who in turn oversee the Skipton's 80-strong branch network.

Mr Lay joined the Skipton in 1980 as a customer adviser at the Preston branch, before being promoted to branch manager at St Annes in 1983.

During the next 13 years, he had spells at Newark, Manchester and Preston again before being promoted to regional manager for the north in 1996.

Mr Lay, who was named Skipton's regional manager of the year in 2003, is married with three sons and is a keen artist who also enjoys gardening and DIY.

The Skipton announced record-breaking lending levels in its 150th year earlier this month.

The mutual society received 22,000 mortgage applications, leading to gross applications totalling £1.6 billion on residential lending.

John Goodfellow, chief executive and director, said: "The economic climate in 2003, our 150th year, meant the financial industry was once again operating in a challenging environment, facing fierce competition to gain new customers - and retain existing ones - alongside the growing costs of compliance and regulation.

"Against this background, I am very pleased to report that Skipton Building Society has met each challenge head on, with the result that this year's figures show a trend of continued growth for both the society and its group."

He added: "On the lending side, Skipton's approach to its mortgage portfolio is to offer consistently good value.

"This means avoiding the boom and bust' approach of other lenders, whose headline-grabbing rates may entice the novice borrower, but leave them high and dry after the initial deal is over.

"Through this approach, the 5-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage appeared in numerous best buy tables and the re-launch of the ever-popular Stateside Mortgage in September received very favourable media coverage and contributed to our record lending levels at that time."

Skipton group pre-tax profits rose by £4.4 million to £57.8m last year, with the society's commercial lending arm setting another record by increasing lending by 36 per cent to more than £200 million.

Mr Goodfellow re-emphasised the Skipton's commitment to remaining a mutual building society.