Why change is needed

Nationwide is the largest building society in the UK. It has a large presence on the British High Street given its Branch Promise: a commitment to keeping branches open. Nationwide is the second largest lender in the land, providing more than 1 in every 10 mortgages in the UK.

What makes a mutual (or co-operative) organisation distinct is that it is owned by its customers, and not shareholders.

A mutual organisation should therefore be focused on delivering the best outcomes for its members – who are both the customers and owners.

However, for this model to work, members need to be part of the governance process and their voices heard across the organisation. Instead, over the last 20 years, the proportion of members voting (turnout) has fallen to ~4% of total members, and AGM participation has also been on decline to just a few hundred attendees.

Currently the board of Nationwide is made up entirely of Directors who were appointed by fellow Board Directors. None were nominated by the Membership. It wasn’t always this way.

Nationwide is set to go through a very challenging time given the integration of Virgin Money – the largest in the history of the society – and so it is critical that Members are directly represented on the Board.

This is why James is standing as a Board candidate – and asking Members to elect a Director, nominated by the members, for the first time in 25 years.