| Abstract: | The study quantifies the differences in the level of return from investing in deposit (savings) accounts provided by depository institutions, which are either 'mutual' or 'proprietary'. It is shown that for most types of deposit accounts offered in the UK, mutual building societies provide higher returns than proprietary firms. Surprisingly, it is also shown that returns from deposit accounts issued by converted or non‐mutual building societies are, generally, lower than either mutual building societies or proprietary firms. These findings are consistent for interest rate data adjusted for the effect of non‐price product characteristics and for unadjusted interest rate data. |
