Elect James Sherwin-Smith to represent Nationwide building society members
The first building society began in a Birmingham pub. Now member-backed candidate James Sherwin-Smith is asking whether Britain’s biggest mutual still belongs to the people who own it.
I gave the following speech to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud & Fairer Financial Services at the Palace of Westminster on Monday 15th June 2026. A sample of the slides used in a presentation to the Transparency Task Force on Tuesday 9th June 2026 also accompanied my speech – see TTF event […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Voting has formally opened in Nationwide Building Society’s 2026 AGM election. However, questions remain regarding both ballot access and the administration of the election process. 10 JUNE 2026, LONDON – James Sherwin-Smith, the first Member Nominated Candidate to stand for Election to the Board of Nationwide Building Society in more than 20 […]
This sum comprised a fixed salary of £1.2 million and bonuses amounting to £3.2 million, supplemented by a pension allowance and other benefits. The company’s pay committee said it was “comfortable that remuneration outcomes reflect the society’s excellent performance”. Nationwide made a pre-tax profit of £1.49 billion for the year to the end of March, which was down from the £2.3 billion reported the previous year.
In the latest TV ad from Nationwide poking fun at its shareholder-owned rivals, the self-important bank boss played by Dominic West grumbles “I deserve a bonus” when he’s told the building society is doling out £100 payments to millions of members. Just wait until he hears about the awards the mutual has handed to its chief executive.
Nationwide building society has nearly doubled the pay packet of its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, a year after the board pushed through a controversial bonus scheme for its top boss. The mutual, which is owned by its members, released its annual report on Monday, showing Crosbie was handed £3.2m in bonuses – a combination of payouts for annual and longer-term performance – up from £1.1m a year earlier. It pushed her overall pay packet to […]
The boss of Nationwide has seen her pay almost double since the building society’s blockbuster takeover of Virgin Money. Debbie Crosbie, who has steered the mutual since 2022, bagged a £4.7m pay packet in the last financial year, up from £2.5m the year prior. Nationwide has found itself in a new controversy of the last few months after being accused of picking an “unfair fight” with one of its members who has sought to clinch a seat on the building society’s board. […]
The boss of Nationwide has seen her pay packet nearly double as she cashed in on bonus awards after steering the building society’s multi-billion pound acquisition of Virgin Money.
But the building society is facing criticism over its handling of the first member-nominated candidate to stand for election to sit on its board. […]
The boss of Nationwide saw her pay nearly double last year despite concerns about banker-style bonuses at the mutual. Dame Debbie Crosbie, who steered Nationwide’s takeover of Virgin Money, saw her pay increase from £2.49m to £4.70m for the year ending March 2026 after her bonuses tripled. According to the latest accounts for the building society, it makes Dame Debbie the […]
The boss of Nationwide’s pay package has nearly doubled over the past year after Britain’s biggest building society almost tripled her maximum bonus entitlement to more than £3 million. Dame Debbie Crosbie received total remuneration of nearly £4.7 million in the year to March 31, up from £2.49 million over the previous 12 months, Nationwide announced in its annual report on Monday. She is also in line for […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8TH JUNE 2026, LONDON — James Sherwin-Smith is the first Member-nominated candidate to stand for election to Nationwide’s Board in more than twenty years and the only candidate standing who has not been selected by the Board.
Dame Debbie Crosbie’s remuneration jumps from £2.49m to £4.67m – and for brokers, the more pressing question is what today’s results say about the lender that now holds one in six UK mortgages.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Member Candidate says Nationwide blocked warning on Quick Vote days before AGM ballots issued • Candidate requested permission to tell Members not to use Quick Vote if they wished to support his election • Request refused despite Board decision to recommend Members vote against him • Website address and QR code removed […]
James Sherwin-Smith says field tilted against him after decision to give members ‘quick vote’ against candidacy.
He said the move to make a vote against him the default was a “dangerous precedent for mutuals and democratic governance”. The Labour MP Navendu Mishra last week criticised “emerging governance issues” across the building society sector. Nationwide has also blocked Sherwin-Smith from […]
Dear Supporter, I wanted to update you on a major development in the campaign for greater accountability and member representation at Nationwide. Yesterday, after a piece published in The Times regarding the extended delay, Nationwide formally confirmed that the Board will NOT be recommending my candidacy for election to the Board at this year’s AGM. […]
[UPDATE 28th May, 19:36 I have now obtained a copy of Nationwide’s “reactive media statement” briefing against my candidacy. I urge supporters to review my below responses and — with regards to Note 4 in Nationwide’s statement — to consider my response on the quick vote here: Fact checking Nationwide’s statement re ’emerging governance issues’.] […]
The rebel Nationwide customer campaigning to join the building society’s board has accused it of orchestrating an “unfair fight” after the mutual urged its members to oppose him.
Britain’s biggest building society said on Thursday it was recommending that its members vote against James Sherwin-Smith’s election as a director at its annual meeting in mid-July because its board had concluded […]
Nationwide has been accused of picking an “unfair fight” with one of its members who has sought to clinch a seat on the building society’s board. The mutual has opted […]
The rebel member of Nationwide campaigning to join the mutual’s board has hit out at Britain’s biggest building society over its handling of the vote.
Nationwide confirmed in April that Sherwin-Smith had enough nominations from other customers to have his candidacy put to a vote. But the society has yet […]
Labour MP writes to chair amid concerns building societies are overusing quick votes and failing to add members to boards Kalyeena Makortoff. Banking correspondentSun 24 May 2026 12.00 BST Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/24/nationwide-governance-agm-building-societies-boards Nationwide is under pressure to address “emerging governance issues” across the building society sector, amid concerns bosses are bundling voting options and failing to […]
21 May 2026, London — Following publication of Nationwide’s 2026 Preliminary Results (LSE Regulatory News Service), James Sherwin-Smith, a Member Nominated Candidate for election to Nationwide’s Board of Directors in 2026, commented: Nationwide’s latest preliminary results confirm that the Society remains financially strong and continues to gain in scale following the Virgin Money acquisition, alongside […]
James Sherwin-Smith & Why Every Member Should Exercise Their Democratic Right to Vote Understand the important role mutuals play in UK retail banking I enjoyed talking to Jeremy McKeown on his podcast “In The Company Of Mavericks”, out today. We covered: If you’re interested in the stories behind the headlines in Financial Services and personal […]
Members were never given a say on the mutual’s biggest takeover since it was founded in 1884 — now they are going to see whether it was worth it Ben Martin, Banking Editor Sunday May 17 2026, 2.40pm Link: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/nationwide-results-virgin-merger-integration-member-director-57bt8tfbh When Nationwide revealed in March 2024 that it was spending £2.9 billion snapping up Virgin […]
Patrick Tooher, Consultant City EditorUpdated: 11:45, 17 May 2026 Link: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-15823361/Another-100-bag-Nationwide-members.html Nationwide will announce another £100 profit-sharing bonus for each of its more than four million eligible members when it posts annual results on Thursday. It will be the fourth year running that Britain’s biggest building society has made the payment under its Fairer Share […]
A decade after Theresa May spoke of radical reform, the mutual faces a bid that is testing the limits of democracy Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondentSun 17 May 2026 11.00 BST Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/17/nationwide-customer-boardroom-corporate-governance-mutual [NB The Monday 18th May 2026 print edition carried an abridged version, shown below. The full text follows beneath. Accompanying posts made on […]
A number of “one member, one vote” organisations in the UK have adopted the use of the ‘Quick vote’ (QV) mechanism – see Restore Trust’s 2023 report (The effect of the Quick Vote on democracy at the National Trust). In most cases this has not been specifically agreed by the membership, but instead co-opted by […]
I am grateful to Mr Navendu (Nav) Mishra MP for writing to both the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Kevin Parry OBE (the Nationwide Building Society chairman), regarding emerging “governance issues within the building society sector”, with Gareth Thomas MP copied, as chair of the APPG for mutuals. These are […]
My thanks to a supporter for bringing this to my attention. Nationwide: democratic deficit “Top marks for perseverance,” said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. James Sherwin-Smith – a long-term customer campaigner for more transparent governance at Nationwide – has secured the necessary 250 nominations to get his name on the ballot paper for elections to […]
Updated 8th June 2026 Now that I have been successfully nominated for election to the Nationwide Board, one thing is certain: my name will appear on the 2026 ballot paper. What remains uncertain is how, and where, my name will appear, and what impact that will have on my election chances, and the precedent it […]
James Sherwin-Smith’s candidacy is a test of the building society’s commitment to mutual values By Nils Pratley, Finance EditorMon 27 Apr 2026 19.05 BST Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2026/apr/27/nationwide-should-give-its-boardroom-challenger-a-fair-run James Sherwin-Smith, who is aiming to become the first customer to be voted onto the board of Nationwide in nearly 25 years, deserves top marks for perseverance. A year […]