Nationwide hands out £100 to four million members after profit boost

NATIONWIDE Building Society will hand £100 each to more than four million members after it reported an increase in profits following its takeover of Virgin Money.

The payment, Nationwide’s third “fairer share” payout, will total about £410 million. It comes on top of £1 billion of cash returned to members in the year to the end of March, and £1.8 billion of benefits passed on through competitive savings and mortgage rates, reported The Times.

Nationwide’s annual pre-tax profits rose to £2.3 billion from less than £1.8 billion a year earlier. This rise was supported by the acquisition of Virgin Money, which formally completed at the beginning of October.

Debbie Crosbie, the chief executive of Nationwide, said the mutual had experienced “an outstanding twelve months”.

“The Virgin Money performance was strong in the six months since our acquisition, with improvements in customer service and a return to growth in mortgage lending,” Crosbie said.

Crosbie had announced Nationwide’s £2.9 billion deal to acquire Virgin Money in March last year, moving it ahead of NatWest as the UK’s second-biggest mortgage lender. Some members had criticised the takeover as they were not given a say in the deal.

Nationwide recently gave 12 million members with a mortgage, current or savings account a £50 payment totalling £615 million, in addition to its second fairer share payment of £385 million last June.