Ipswich Building Society is inviting local people to help shape the way it operates, in a bid to make it the “most responsible” building society in the UK.

The society, which has around 65,000 members, is responding to the series of scandals in the wider financial sector by holding workshops in Saxmundham and Ipswich in the coming weeks engage the public in discussions about social responsibility.

Chief executive Paul Winter said: “We’d like to hear from local people of all ages about what they think being a responsible business means, whether it is important to them and how they would like to see us demonstrating our social responsibility.

“Views and ideas from the workshops will be used to help us develop our future vision and strategy, so it really does matter.”

The sessions will take place on Tuesday, November 25 between 10am and noon at the Fromus Centre in Saxmundham and at the Ipswich Building Society head office on Ransomes EuroPark in Ipswich on Wednesday, December 3 between 10am and noon and Thursday, December 4 between 6pm and 8pm.

Each session will last no more than two hours during which time refreshments will be available. Anyone interested in taking part is asked to call Ben Brooks on 01473 278492 or email BenBrooks@ibs.co.uk .

Ipswich Buliding Society has nine branches and six agencies across Suffolk, plus a further agency in Norfolk. It currently has more than 80,000 savings accounts and more than 5,000 mortage accounts. Four out of five (80%) of the society’s members live in the East of England.