Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money
The campaign for Nationwide members
13 May 2024 Press release re Allan Gray support for member vote, HM Treasury refusing to act and House of Lords debate on BSA amendment bill
With backing from HM Treasury, the campaign recommends members raise complaints with the society, and if still unsatisfied, with the FOS.
The campaign to “Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money” accuses Nationwide of “poor communication and misleading statements” regarding the deal, and requests that Nationwide be “open and honest” with membership regarding the inherent costs and risks of the proposed acquisition. Further, after the society revealed that it is denying members a vote on a technicality, the campaign challenges the “legal safety” of the Nationwide board’s opinion, effectively disenfranchising 16 million Nationwide members.
26 April 2024 BACKGROUND The campaign began with a simple objective, as per the title of the petition started by Mikael Armstrong on 21 March 2024: to Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money. It now has over 4,000 signatories. The immediate opportunity that the campaign identified was to request a […]
26 April 2024 Dear FCA Mutual Societies team (cc Nikhil Rathi, Mikael Armstrong, Treasury Select Committee, Treasury action team, Bim Afolami MP, Julie Elliott MP bcc journalists that have covered this story) We have been sent your below response [1] by supporters of our campaign who have raised concerns about the Nationwide Building Society. We […]
Swindon, UK – The campaign to “Give Nationwide Members a Say on the purchase of Virgin Money” is calling on the Nationwide building society to publish its recent research into members’ attitudes to the proposed acquisition of Virgin Money. It is also asking the society to be transparent with members about any potential downsides if […]
Please read the latest update from Mikael – and please email Nationwide with your request as per the instructions below. — UPDATE FROM MIKAEL — Thank you to everyone who has signed and supported this petition. We are now past the 3,000 signatory mark which is 6x what is needed to bring a Special General […]
Another form of direct action that members can take – given that Nationwide is not bringing a vote or calling a Special General Meeting (SGM) to affect the same – is to raise a concern with the mutual regulator: the Financial Conduct Authority. The suggested grounds of the concern are that Nationwide is not abiding […]
Please use/adapt the below template and email your local MP. It is important that you include your name, address and post code at the end. Strict parliamentary rules mean that MPs are only allowed to help their own constituents. You can find our who your local MP is and their email address at:https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons – – EMAIL […]
Correspondence between PRA authorised firms, like Nationwide and Virgin Money, is in most case confidential. However through analysis of public documents that stipulate the obligations on authorised firms, it’s possible to glean what disclosures are required in certain circumstances, even if we don’t necessarily know the contents.
