Nationwide Building Society has announced a £100 cash payment for 4.4 million members as part of its fourth Fairer Share payout, following a “stellar” financial year. The building society reported a pre-tax profit of £1.49 billion for the year to the end of March, enabling the handout scheduled for June.
The mutual, which has attracted one million new current account customers in the past year, also returned £1.8 billion in value to members through higher savings rates and lower mortgage costs. Its CEO, Dame Debbie Crosbie, highlighted the society’s growth, including a doubling of its share of student current account openings to 43 per cent.
Nationwide’s controversial £2.9 billion takeover of Virgin Money in 2024 has bolstered earnings, with one in three people in the UK now having a connection to the society. Critics had raised concerns about integration challenges, but Nationwide says it has made “significant progress” and will begin migrating Virgin customers to its brand this year.
The building society has maintained a promise to keep all branches open until at least 2030, contrasting with branch closures by major high street banks. It was named Which? bank brand of the year and has led customer satisfaction surveys among its peer group for 14 consecutive years.
Dame Debbie said: “These stellar results are exactly what we want to deliver for our 22 million Nationwide customers. Once again, we will reward people who use us for their main banking with a £100 Fairer Share payment.”
