Nationwide is now the issuer of bank notes in Scotland – is this a good use of Member capital?

Nationwide Building Society posted today on LinkedIn that it is “Investing in Scotland”

We are investing in Scotland with a significant, long-term commitment to our Bothwell Street office, located in the heart of Glasgow’s business district.

We will continue to invest in Scotland – helping us deliver even more for our customers.

Nationwide on LinkedIn (8 July 2026)

My comment below the post was this, attaching the photo above:

Recognising the below facts, do Nationwide Members think that the society continuing to hold equity in Clydesdale Bank mainly for the purposes of issuing bank notes (rather than being deployed elsewhere eg supporting further lending to Members) is a good use of their capital?

#1 The Nationwide CEO, Debbie Crosbie DBE is Scottish
#2 The CEO has been a signatory on the Clydesdale Bank notes before, and perhaps might be again
#3 As Nationwide CEO she led the Virgin Money acquisition (she was the COO of VM, and owned shares in VM at the time of the acquisition) already adds weight to Nationwide in Scotland via former Clydesdale Bank branches
#4 Nationwide Members weren’t given a vote on the VM acquisition
#5 Nationwide is keeping Clydesdale Bank plc running mainly to issue bank notes in Scotland
#6 Clydesdale is 1 of 3 bank note issuers in Scotland (the others are Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland), while England has one: the Bank of England (its notes are also legal tender in Scotland)
#7 Nationwide Members weren’t given a vote on the continued Clydesdale Bank note issuance
#8 “For customers in Scotland, that note-issuing business is very, very important” (CEO, 2025 AGM) – without offering any actual evidence

James Sherwin-Smith on LinkedIn (8 July 2026)

I have previously asked Clydesdale Bank cash services department for information on hte bank notes in circulation.

Are there any statistics published on Clydesdalebank notes – how many and what number are in circulation, how much is withdrawn / entered into circulation each year?

Any info you can share would be really appreciated. 

Email to Clydesdale Bank plc 19 Feb 2026

It refused:

Good afternoon, unfortunately this is not information that is published in the public domain

Reply from Clydesdale Bank plc 20 Feb 2026

I think it will soon become apparent, as of next year’s Companies House annual account filing, as per the Part VII transfer documents, all other major assets and liabilities will be transferred into the Nationwide Building Society core.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England publishes statistics for the Notes In Circulation (“NIC”) and the Notes With the Potential to Enter Circulation (“NWPEC”) each year:

Table 1 Breakdown of backing requirement and comparison with previous year*

	28 February 2025	29 February 2024
Scotland authorised banks	£5.35 billion	£5.37 billion
NIC	£5.15 billion	£5.13 billion
NWPEC	£0.2 billion	£0.24 billion

*Figures included in this report have been rounded to the nearest million.

So its feasible that Clydesdale Bank, on the basis that it has at least 20% market share of Scottish bank notes, has at least £1 billion in issuance.