Elect James Sherwin-Smith to represent Nationwide building society members
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.
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.
James Sherwin-Smith, a member-nominated candidate for the board, is crying foul about the way the building society is organising the vote By Ben MartinThursday June 04 2026, 8.50pm, The Times Link: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/nationwide-building-society-vote-james-sherwin-smith-rst096r25 Ask Dame Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of the customer-owned Nationwide Building Society, whether the mutual is open to members joining its board and her […]
Last month, Navendu Mishra MP (Labour & Co-operative, Stockport) submitted three important written Parliamentary Questions to HM Treasury about the future governance of Building Societies.
Yesterday, all three received exactly the same response from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Blake MP…
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. […]
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 […]
Not since the keen-eyed Inspector Goole shattered the comfortable illusions of the Edwardian elite has an uninvited guest threatened to sour a private feast’s mood so sharply.
James Sherwin-Smith, the man attempting to clinch a seat at that exclusive dinner party otherwise known as Nationwide’s board could be just […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Update 21 May 2026 – the Fairer Share payment for 2026 has been announced – see this article! If Nationwide can again afford to make Fairer Share payments, this will be rightly celebrated by the recipients. However the majority of members that don’t receive these may be left questioning fairness: why do only a minority […]
27 April 2026 15:35 “The Nationwide Building Society could have one of its customers in its boardroom for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century. The society is owned by 9 million savers and borrowers, who elect the directors who oversee the business. One customer, James Sherwin-Smith from West Sussex, has secured […]
Nationwide faces an AGM in July after one of its longtime members secured enough support for a spot on the lender’s annual ballot. By James Rodger, Content Editor09:57, 27 Apr 2026 Link: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/cost-of-living/nationwide-makes-historic-announcement-17-33842956 Nationwide could have its first customer on its board for nearly 25 years. Nationwide, which has branches in Birmingham, faces an AGM in […]
A campaigning customer has secured a board ballot spot for Nationwide for the first time in 21 years By Ben Martin, Banking Editor Link: https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/nationwide-faces-board-challenge-from-member-hgw5t6twz About nine million members of Nationwide will have the opportunity to elect one of their own to the board of the mutual for the first time in 21 years after […]
LONDON, 27 APRIL 2026 07:00 – Nationwide Building Society has confirmed that I have receivedthe required valid nominations and will appear on the ballot for election to the Board at the2026 AGM. This creates the opportunity for Nationwide Members to elect a Member Nominated Directorfor the first time in over 20 years, at an important […]
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 […]
An excellent article regarding Eliza Orme was published in The Times this week. She is believed to be one of the first women to become a director of a building society, when she co-founded the Nineteenth Century Building Society in 1880. It inspired me to write this brief history of female directors at Nationwide Building […]
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 […]
You might have seen reports in the press this week that the High Court has approved the transfer of Virgin Money’s business into Nationwide (e.g. The Sun, The Mirror). This was a legal application made by Nationwide to transfer nearly all assets, liabilities and customers of Clydesdale Bank plc (trading as Virgin Money) into Nationwide. […]
[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 […]
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 […]
Nationwide building society has historically taken a strong stance, and made some stronger statements, regarding its branch network. Yet branch closures and reduced opening hours are some of the first topics that come up in my conversations with members, staff and former staff. While Nationwide has now promised not to close any Nationwide branches before […]
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 […]
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 […]