Nationwide and Virgin Money
We are considering making an offer to acquire Virgin Money. If accepted by Virgin Money’s shareholders it will create a stronger building society better placed to deliver value to you, both now and in the future.
Published on: 7 March 2024
A message from our Chairman
I am writing to you as a valued member of Nationwide Building Society to inform you of an important development in Nationwide’s strategy.
Nationwide has grown to become the UK’s largest building society by successfully acquiring and integrating more than 250 other organisations during its 140-year history. We have now announced that we are considering making an offer to acquire Virgin Money.
If the acquisition proceeds, it will accelerate our strategy and create a stronger and more diverse business that is better placed to deliver financial value to our members, both now and in the future.
Importantly, Nationwide will remain a building society.
The combination of our businesses would put us in a stronger position to continue to provide Fairer Share Payments to our eligible Nationwide members, better value mortgages and savings, and leading customer service. Over time, we would aim to provide a wider range of products and services to our customers and members, including Virgin Money’s well-established business banking services.
A combined group would deliver the benefits of fairer banking and mutual ownership to more people in the UK. Nationwide remains wholly committed to being a modern mutual that can meet all its members’ banking needs.
Whilst this would mark another exciting chapter in our history, there is more work to be done and there is no guarantee that we will make a firm offer, nor that it would be accepted by Virgin Money’s shareholders.
I can assure you that we will let you know if and when a firm offer is made. In the meantime, you can see the formal regulatory announcement and answers to key questions you might have. We are strictly limited by regulation regarding any further comments, but we will continually update this page with any additional announcements that we issue in connection with the possible offer.
In the meantime, we will continue to focus on delivering our Purpose. Banking – but fairer, more rewarding and for the good of society.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Parry
Chairman
Answers to key questions
We believe a combined group of Nationwide and Virgin Money would accelerate our existing strategy and create a stronger and more diverse business that will be better placed to deliver value to our members and customers, both now and in the future.
Importantly, Nationwide would remain a building society.
The Board believes the acquisition of Virgin Money is in the interests of our current and future members and will enhance the long-term success of the Society.
The requirement to hold a vote is governed by the Building Societies Act 1986 and based on this, a member vote is not required.
Yes, your deposits are still safe.
This has no implications for the FSCS protections that savers currently benefit from, as following the possible acquisition, the two firms would operate under two separate banking licences.
The FSCS automatically protects up to £85,000 per person, per banking licence.
We already have the largest single-brand branch network in the UK and are committed to maintaining this breadth of coverage.
We believe a combined group would deliver the benefits of fairer banking and mutual ownership to more people in the UK, including our continuing commitment to existing branches, better value products and leading levels of customer service.
We believe the Potential Acquisition will strengthen the combined group’s financial position, including through greater diversity of funding, notably from business deposits.
We expect to be able to capitalise on this financial strength to support the continued provision of the Nationwide Fairer Share Payment to eligible Nationwide members and member financial benefits via mortgage and savings rates that are, on average, better than the market average, along with other incentives.
We know branches are important to our customers.
We will keep our Branch Promise. This means that everywhere we have a branch, we promise to still be there until at least the start of 2026.
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