Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money.

Welcome to the website for the campaign that called for a member vote on the acquisition of Virgin Money by Nationwide building society.

Over 5,000 people signed the petition – thank you for your support.

Nationwide completed the £2.9 billion acquisition of Virgin Money – a poorly-rated bank, part-owned by Richard Branson who will pocket £650M+ – denying Nationwide customers to vote on the deal (who are the members and owners of the building society after all). The Nationwide board chose to circumvent what’s expected under law using a “sneaky” technicality, and acting against the democratic ethos of a mutual society. 

The deal was a “reverse Robin Hood” as it effectively took from the poor (Nationwide members in the UK) to give to the rich (Virgin Money shareholders – most of whom were Australian). 

Nationwide customers may be worse off financially, and Nationwide will be less protected in a downturn, because of this deal. Customers are already paying higher rates to borrow, and getting a lower return on the their savings. Nationwide could have used its reserves consumed on this acquisition to directly benefit its customers instead during a cost of living crisis, or held it in reserve as loss-absorbing capital. 

If someone was asking you to rush through a transaction, that sounded too good to be true, and without any mention of the costs or the risks – wouldn’t you be suspicious?