A Bradford-based financial business has used its 150th anniversary year to launch a new identity.

Yorkshire Building Society Group has unveiled the new identity across its brands, including the Yorkshire, Barnsley, Chelsea and Norwich & Peterborough building societies, which it says reinforces the size and strength of the group.

The move is designed to unite the group’s high street presence and help new and existing customers understand the benefits of being part of a larger group.

The trading names of the individual brands will remain but each will get new logos.

Chris Pilling, chief executive, said: “We’re really excited to reveal our new-look brands and group identity, to better reflect who we are as an organisation.

“We’re proud of each of our brands’ strong heritage and we’re excited about the future of the group.

“Our 150th anniversary year provided the perfect platform to launch our new look and help our members visually understand that they belong to a much bigger Society.”

The Yorkshire Building Society business has expanded in recent years through several mergers with smaller societies It also includes intermediary only lender Accord Mortgages and share plans provider YBS Share Plans and also owns the Egg brand.

The YBS group has 231 branches, 96 agencies and assets of £34.5 billion. It employs approximately 4,300 staff and has 3.4 million customers.

Around £11 million is being spent on upgrading the group’s head office on Rooley Lane, Bradford .

Last year YBS controversially leased space in the former John lewis store in leeds city centre to solve overcrowding problems. The Society said it needed to act quickly and was unable to find suitable accommodation in Bradford.

In 2011 YBS completed the merger with Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and bought a £2.5 billion savings book and £430 million mortgage book from Egg Banking These deals followed the 2010 merger with the Chelsea Building Society, which increased YBS total assets by 32 per cent .

The Barnsley was rescued by the Yorkshire in 2008 after its revenues were hit by the collapse of two Icelandic banks.

In 2013 YBS launched a five-year £160 million investment plan, including £60 million to create a single IT platform for the YBS group. The money is also being spent on new technology and development of the group's 4,100 staff.

YBS said the investment programme represented the next stage of its plans for organic growth following the mergers and acquisitions of previous years.