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Give societies the same chance as banks: Nationwide
Nationwide is demanding the government change building society laws so they do not have to leap through more hoops than banks to get extra funds to offer mortgages to consumers.
"It would be great if it could be changed so that the transfer could be undertaken in a straightforward way."
Mr Coles said the BSA had spoken to the Treasury previously about the issue but now he would seek to expedite the matter.
Andy Caton, corporate development director of Yorkshire Building Society, confirmed while it had traded assets for some Treasury bills it had only been a small amount.
He said the issue of converting them was much more of an obstacle for some other building societies that had taken on larger amounts of the bills.
He said: "We would agree with Nationwide and support the proposed change to Section 9B."
Neville Richardson is the group chief executive of Britannia Building Society, said: "In principle we welcome anything that gives building societies a level playing field with the banks. Although this is not something Britannia needs at the moment, we would support anything that would give a level playing field."