Elect James Sherwin-Smith to represent Nationwide building society members
Nationwide Building Society introduced the “Quick vote” (QV) mechanism in 2006. This was the year after the last Member Nominated Candidate stood for election in 2005. Since that time, there have been no Member Nominated Candidates and no Member Resolutions put forward, so the use of the QV hasn’t been tested in the situation where […]
From today’s edition (31 March 2026) of The Times, Patrick Hosking, Financial Editor, writes in his business column: Let him stand “James Sherwin-Smith may or may not be a suitable director of the Nationwide Building Society. But what should not be in doubt is his right to put his name forward as a candidate. “Yesterday […]
I hand delivered 340+ Member nominations in support of my candidacy to Nationwide Building Society HQ in sunny Swindon today. I now await feedback from Nationwide as to whether I have 250 valid nominations from eligible Members, and can therefore be listed on the Ballot ahead of the online-only AGM, on 15th July 2026. If […]
Alongside delivering the required nominations, and a £500 deposit, candidates for election to the board have the opportunity to include an election address of up to 500 words. This is as per Rule 31 of Nationwide’s Memorandum and Rules and Section 61 of the Building Societies Act (1986), as amended. Below the line is the […]
The UK’s largest building society has a 4% response at its AGM, raising questions about engagement with its 16.4m members
I thought a summary of recent board changes ahead of this summer’s AGM would be helpful to share as there has been a fair amount of change over the last 18 months. Background Each year, Nationwide members are asked to (re-)elect board directors. Ballot papers and online forms are circulated by the society to members […]
Why the building society’s remuneration vote is advisory, dominated by the Quick Vote, and supported by just 4% of members. At last year’s AGM, the increased package for the CEO of up to £7m was branded by one member as an “obscenity”, as reported at the time in The Guardian. Private Eye noticed at the […]
[Originally posted on Linkedin] The Government recently announced that it is “pressing ahead with plans to allow Virtual AGMs“. In my view this would be a backward step, both for the UK, and for Corporate Governance standards. Before you think that the above is simply HMG support for hybrid (combined physical and virtual) meetings, think […]
Nils Pratley, sharing his opinion, following the Nationwide AGM: Governance needs overhaul after there was no vote on Virgin Money takeover and vote on CEO’s £7m pay was only advisory “There’s no one else quite like us,” goes the refrain at Nationwide as it champions the virtues of being a big building society rather than a big […]
Ben Marlow (Associate Editor), writing in the Telegraph, in the run up to the 2025 AGM: The mutual’s readiness to ride roughshod over the will of its members goes against everything it claims to be Who said banking was boring? One glance at Nationwide’s website and you might wonder if you were in the company […]
Michael Bow, Chief City Correspondent, writing in The Telegraph ahead of the 2025 AGM: Building society under fire over claims it is stopping ordinary members from joining board Nationwide is facing a backlash over boardroom cronyism after claims it has rebuffed attempts to allow ordinary members of the building society to join its board. The […]
This Is Money / Mail on Sunday has launched a campaign today to save shareholder meetings, as it is rightly concerned that virtual AGMs limit the ability for owners from holding organisations to account, and may even be illegal. The timing couldn’t be better given Nationwide members still have the opportunity to vote and attend […]
Kalyeena Makortoff, writing in The Guardian today, has highlighted Nationwide’s blatant double standard when it comes to executive pay. Nationwide is arguing that its executives should be paid in a comparable way to executives at large UK banks, but as Nationwide is a building society, members should not be granted a binding vote on the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]