Elect James Sherwin-Smith to represent Nationwide building society members
In the last few days, Nationwide members will have received the Chairman’s letter 2025, inviting members to vote and attend this year’s virtual-only Annual General Meeting (AGM). One claim that stood out for me and I wanted to check its veracity: “Since we made the meeting online, we’ve had the highest member attendance for over […]
Private Eye (issue 1652, page 8) draws attention to the award of a damehood to Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide CEO, under the title of “KING’S BIRTHDAY TREATS: Honours round-up.” If you’re a Nationwide member, and don’t agree with paying a mutual society CEO 280x what a junior member of staff receives, you may want to use […]
My thanks to Michael Bow at the Telegraph for a long article examining the impact Dame Debbie Crosbie is having at Nationwide building society. Read the full article here (25 June 2025): How Nationwide’s £7m boss became Britain’s most controversial banker Michael quoted me throughout the article, sharing some of my concerns with regard to […]
With 17 million Nationwide building society members, the majority of whom are presumed to be eligible to vote (i.e. more than some sovereign countries), the “modern” mutual’s 2025 AGM should be a leading example of democracy and corporate governance in action. Instead the largest building society in the world exhibits contempt for its members by […]
Costs related to the Virgin Money bank acquisition continue to rise at Nationwide building society. With years of integration work yet to begin, Nationwide members should be concerned. When the deal was proposed, the building society sought to placate its members (who were calling for a vote) with assurances that the deal represented “good value” […]
Great to read this article from Patrick Tooher in today’s Daily Mail addressing this important topic (which also kindly quoted me). You can read the article online: Don’t turn up! Big firms bar investors from AGMs Limiting the ability for shareholders and members to hold boards to account via online-only (and thus often highly stage-managed) […]
[Updated 29 March 2026] I have the opportunity to include an Election Address of no more than 500 words in support of my candidacy under Rule 22 of Nationwide’s memorandum and rules (see: Process to nominate and elect a Director of Nationwide). The Society Secretary has therefore asked me to deliver this to him at […]
Not everyone thinks the ‘Big Thank You’ payments are a good idea although they do send a powerful message Patrick Hosking, Financial EditorWednesday March 19 2025, 5.00pm, The Times Link: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/nationwide-is-paying-out-600m-to-its-members-but-should-it-be-50plkqb5b These are unusually good times to be a building society. Margins are fat; defaults low. Nationwide is so flush with cash it is in […]
My thanks to Patrick Hosking at The Times for putting Nationwide’s recent “big thank you” payment under scrutiny, and for this final paragraph. Read his article in the Times: Nationwide is paying out £600m to its members. But should it be? (19 March 2025) I rather liked this final paragraph: “Sherwin-Smith is too purist about […]
My thanks to Patrick Tooher and Jane Denton for writing this article for the Daily Mail (online edition: This is Money). It follows a longer post I wrote about the “Big Thank You” payment: The Big Nationwide “Thank You”: £50 for what and why? You can read the article in full here: Nationwide forced to […]
Nationwide announced this week the “Big Nationwide Thank You” – a £50 one-off payment to eligible members. This is entirely separate to the recent annual (but not guaranteed, or clearly defined) Fairer Share Payment. This “thank you” payment is another example as to why members should be more engaged, and members’ perspectives better represented, at […]
My thanks to Simon English, who wrote this article in the Daily Mail (online edition: This is Money) examining the recent increase in members’ credit card interest rates. “Rampant profiteering” had to be justified – see my detailed research here into the history of credit card offers and rates in this article: Is Nationwide becoming […]
Disclaimer: Nothing herein is financial advice. Please do your own research and make your own, informed decisions when selecting a financial product or service. I was asked by Simon English, ex City Editor of The Standard (and Nationwide member) last week what I thought of Nationwide building society’s decision to increase the interest rate on […]
Find Out Now surveyed over 2,000 Nationwide members (who hold at least £200 with Nationwide) on the following question: The board of Nationwide building society doesn’t currently contain any directors directly nominated by the membership. A member wanting to stand for election has applied to contact members to seek their support. If the regulator allows […]
Following the announcement to my professional network on LinkedIn regarding next week’s oral hearing, which linked to the text provided by the FCA, one commentator asked me this: “Why do you need access to the full list (lots of personal data), rather than having Nationwide post out your election comms to the members directly?“ Question […]
The FCA have agreed I can share the following information: An oral hearing will convene on the 26 February 2025 at 11am at 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN. The hearing will be in-person only and will last approximately 90mins. This hearing is to determine an application to obtain a copy of the register of […]
Following the AGM last summer, and the completion of the Virgin Money acquisition in October, it’s worth noting a few recent changes from a governance perspective. Updated Memorandum and Rules of the society The updated Memorandum and Rules have now been published on the society website with an effective date of 1 September 2024. Pages […]
Pictured: Shelia Heywood presenting a cheque on behalf of Nationwide to Buxton Mountain Rescue in 1989 As I canvass for nominations to support my own candidacy to stand for election as a Director of the Nationwide building society – I am naturally drawn to research those that have attempted this before. Finding information on the […]
I am grateful to Akila Quinio who quoted me in this Financial Times piece published today regarding Building Society membership: What does it mean to be a building society member? (2 August 2024) She asked me three questions given I am running for election to the board of Nationwide: my full answers are below. If you’d […]
While working at Oliver Wyman, I had the privilege to co-author a report titled “Co-operative Bank: Customer Champion” for the European Association of Co-operative Banks in 2008. I wrote this with Mark Weil, who subsequently became the CEO of Marsh UK, and then TMF. With the help of a project team, we had the opportunity […]