Elect James Sherwin-Smith to represent Nationwide building society members
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 […]
Patrick Tooher, writing for the Mail on Sunday / This is Money: Nationwide has pumped more than £1 billion into Virgin Money’s Clydesdale Bank to prop up the struggling Scottish lender, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The huge injection is far higher than the £650 million previously reported, and comes as Britain’s biggest building […]
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. […]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Nationwide Building Society £44,078,500 after identifying serious weaknesses in the society’s anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls (see also reports from Guardian, BBC). The regulator’s Final Notice published on 11 December 2025 states that between October 2016 and July 2021 Nationwide’s financial crime controls were not sufficiently effective, […]
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” […]
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 […]
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 […]