Lisburn plumber Stephen Major was keen this week to play down his part in the stunning defeat of the board of the British building society Bradford & Bingley. To anybody who hasn't yet heard, Bradford & Bingley members ignored the advice of their board and voted by a 62 per cent margin to abandon mutuality and take their windfall gains when B&B now converts to a bank.

Stephen Major didn't adopt the confrontational approach of butler Michael Hardern who has tried unsuccessfully to get himself voted onto various building society boards in Britain and failed to get the Nationwide to demutualise. All Mr Major did was get the 50 signatures required to table a motion abandoning mutuality. After that greed for the windfall gains took over.

EBS's Pat O'Reilly and Irish Nationwide's Michael Fingleton must have been looking at the outcome of the Bradford & Bingley vote, but with contrasting views. The EBS and Irish Nationwide are the two remaining independent mutually-owned building societies since the demutualisation and conversion of Irish Permanent and First Active.

Pat O'Reilly has for years been the strongest advocate of EBS remaining a mutual, and it has put its money behind its commitment to mutuality by offering the cheapest mortgages and some of the best deposit rates.

The simple rationale here is that the long-term benefit of a cheaper mortgage or higher deposit rates over a lengthy period far outweighs the once-off benefit of a windfall profit from a free share issue. So far, the EBS has not been confronted with the equivalent of a Stephen Major but, although there has been no obvious pressure from members for the society to demutualise, one never knows what lies ahead.

The Irish Nationwide is a different situation, with Michael Fingleton showing his frustration at the limitations legislation places on former building societies being taken over after they go public. Currently, there is a 15 per cent cap on shareholdings in former building societies. The common view is that the Irish Nationwide chief wants this restriction lifted so it can be sold quickly after a conversion to plc. His pleas for the legislation to be amended have fallen on deaf ears. The review of strategy announced at the a.g.m. is apparently open-ended, but Mr Fingleton hinted that, in the absence of a flotation, Irish Nationwide could look to form an alliance with a European bank.