Chelsea and Yorkshire building societies are to conduct a review of their conveyancing panels following the merger of the two lenders last month, the Gazette has learned.

The merger, which created the second largest building society in the country, was completed on 1 April.

The enlarged society will be known as the Yorkshire Building Society, with the Chelsea Building Society name being retained and operated as a separate brand. The group also includes the Barnsley Building Society.

A spokeswoman for the group told the Gazette: ‘Chelsea and Yorkshire building societies are looking to do a review of their conveyancing panels following the merger, which will probably take place around June.’

She added that the two lenders were ‘putting things in place to align the panels’, but it was too early to speculate about whether this would result in any firms losing their membership. She was unable to say how many solicitors are currently on the panels.