Yorkshire Building Society has aggressive plans to expand its high street presence and tackle what its boss claims is ‘indiscriminate’ closures by some if its rivals.

The Bradford-based business says it has proved its commitment to providing face-to-face service to customers on the high street by continuing to open new outlets as other financial firms are cutting back.

Yorkshire Building Society has opened 14 new local agencies this year and has established 26 new outlets since stepping up agency openings in 2009. Eight more openings are planned for early next year.

YBS now has 84 local agencies in addition to 179 branches across the UK. Agencies are based in businesses such as independent financial advisers, solicitors and insurance brokers.

They provide a service to customers who would not otherwise have access to a Yorkshire branch, and offer the Society’s full range of savings products.

Many agencies are former offices of other financial companies which have cut their agency networks.

Chief executive Iain Cornish said: “We are committed to our agency network and have extended it considerably at a time when other financial institutions are closing their agency offices.

“We’ve got an aggressive agency expansion programme as the likes of the Halifax are taking an indiscriminate axe to their high street networks. There’s been a fantastic response from customers and the new agencies are doing very well.

“Many of our customers value professional advice face to face which is why we consider a high street presence to be as important as our telephone and internet channels.

“Agencies are valuable to the Society as they help us to reach communities who do not have easy access to a Yorkshire Building Society branch and plans are in place to open further agencies during 2011.”

YBS is the UK’s second largest society and incorporates the former Chelsea and Barnsley brands. It has two million members.

Its agencies have Yorkshire Building Society branding and access to its computer system.

Mr Cornish expects the Yorkshire to grab a larger slice of the mortgage market by giving help to first-time buyers .