Winner: The Cumberland

Sponsored by GMET Group

There is no business which needs to be told just how challenging the financial landscape has been over the last year.
However, despite this, the whole team at The Cumberland have pulled together to weather the storm, earning it the award for Large Business of the Year 2023.
Despite the difficulties presented by rising interest rates and inflation, the company has seen a sharp increase in pre-tax profits which hit £26.6m, with the balance sheet exceeding £3bn for the first time.
Over the last year, The Cumberland has also recruited over 100 people and made moves to support its employees with a one-off cost of living payment.
All employees who don’t pay the top rate of tax received this payment, part of which was then added into basic pay, meaning 82 per cent of the team got a significant pay increase in line with inflation.
This support added £1m to The Cumberland’s wage bill.

In Cumbria:
Its success has also come partly as a result of residential mortgage lending, helped by its very strong retention rates for customers coming to the end of fixed-rate deals. Commercial lending was up too, boosted by businesses refinancing existing loans from other lenders. Borderway Finance, The Cumberland’s subsidiary that provides finance through used car dealers, also had another strong year. Savings deposits increased too, particularly fixed rate deposits.
Claire Deekes, chief customer officer at The Cumberland, said: “I'm humbled and honoured to be able to collect this on behalf of our colleagues, they've done such an amazing job.
“While many financial organisations are leaving we’re still part of our communities and that’s really important. We really believe in our communities.”

Runners up:

University of Cumbria  

Genesis  Homes