Nationwide Building Society

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Nationwide Building Society

Type	Building Society (Mutual)
Founded	1884
Headquarters	Swindon, Wiltshire
Key people	Jonathan Agnew, Chairman Graham Beale, Chief Executive
Industry	Banking and Financial Services
Products	Retail banking, Savings Mortgages, Investments, Insurance
Revenue	£1.63 billion GBP (April 2006)
Employees	16,500
Slogan	"Nationwide. Proud to be Different."
Website	www.nationwide.co.uk

Nationwide Building Society is a major UK building society, the largest one in the world, and has its headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire, South West England. It has approximately 11 million members, 15 million accounts and employs 16,500 people across the UK. It is the only UK building society to clear its own cheques, and the only UK financial institution to offer completely fee-free transactions (both electronic and cash withdrawals) worldwide with their VISA branded cards.

Nationwide Building Society provides financial services both directly, and through approximately 680 branches and 200 agencies. Nationwide is a major provider of both mortgages and savings in the UK, as well as personal banking and commercial lending.

On 12th September 2006 the Society announced plans to merge with Portman Building Society, creating a mutual body with assets of more than £150bn.

1 History
2 Sponsorships
3 Footnotes
4 Subsidiary companies
5 External link

[edit] History

2007
- 1 April 2007 - Graham Beale took over as Chief Executive following the retirement of Philip Williamson.
- Ranked 9th in the Best Big Companies to Work For list produced by The Sunday Times.
- Announced a deal with Legal & General to market their life insurance products and sell Nationwide's bancassurance arm, Nationwide Investment Group, to L&G.
- Fined £980,000 by the Financial Services Authority after an enquiry into the theft of an employee's laptop exposed security flaws. Nationwide fine for stolen laptop. On 20th February 2007 it was reported that this fine would be paid by Nationwide's members rather than by the directors who were directly accountable. [1]
2006
- Experienced a security breach that potentially compromised the personal information of members after a company laptop computer was stolen from an employee's home during a burglary in August 2006. Regulator probes shock security lapse at Nationwide. However, no customers have lost any money as a result. Nationwide statement on theft.
- Announced proposed merger with Portman Building Society and named Graham Beale (Group Finance Director) as Chief Executive Designate of the Society, taking over on 1 April 2007.
- Sold at.home Nationwide to ARIM Ltd, which rebranded the business to UK Home Lets.
- Ranked 3rd in the Best Big Companies to Work For list produced by The Sunday Times.
- Assets at a record £120.6bn for the year ended 4 April 2006. Pre-tax profits of £539.4 million. ^[1]

2005
- Ranked 1st in the Best Big Companies to Work For list produced by The Sunday Times and the Department of Trade and Industry.

2004
- Total assets of the Nationwide Building Society exceed £100 billion (£100,000 million), strengthening its status as the largest building society in the world - a position which it has held since 1997. Its asset size placed it as the 7th largest financial organisation on the UK high street.
- Nationwide overtakes the clearing bank Barclays to become Britain's fourth largest mortgage lender, with more than 1 million mortgage customers.
- Savings balances of Nationwide Building Society members, more than £65 billion (£65,000 million) in total, position Nationwide as the third largest savings provider in the UK.

Nationwide Building Society's HQ Building in Swindon

2001
- Society Carpetbaggers propose a resolution for another vote by Nationwide members to convert the society to a bank. The resolution is rejected by the Nationwide board on legal grounds.

2000
- ATM surcharge campaigning in 1999 results in withdrawals from most ATMs owned by UK banks becoming free for customers of all banks and building societies throughout the UK.

1999
- Nationwide Building Society, including various UK tabloid newspapers and media, lauch a campaign against controversial ATM fees. It reaches a peak when Barclays Bank announces a plan to charge all customers of rival banks and financial providers, including those of Nationwide, £1 for every ATM cash withdrawal made from a Barclays-owned ATM. This prompts Nationwide Building Society to warn Barclays that it would take legal action against the bank if it did not back down. Nationwide claims Barclays has broken the rules of the LINK network of ATMs, which the bank had joined earlier the same year.

1998
- Society members seeking a windfall, branded as Carpetbaggers by the UK media, meant Nationwide members go to vote on whether to demutualise the society and float on the London Stock Exchange. The attempt fails, despite media reports of possible pay-outs to members of around £1,000 to £1,500 each, as Nationwide members vote by a narrow margin of 33,700 against converting the building society into a bank.
- At its Swindon headquarters, Nationwide pilots the use of iris recognition in ATMs. This project was since cancelled due to it not being cost effective.^[2]

1991
- The first Visa/Delta debit card in the world is launched by Nationwide Building Society.

1987 - Nationwide and Anglia Building Society merger. The new society is known as Nationwide Anglia at first, but the word "Anglia" is dropped in 1992. The merger also results in the now-familiar Nationwide logo.

1970 - Co-Operative Permanent Building Society changes its name to Nationwide. The name was suggested by the then chairman, Leonard Williams, and borrowed from the BBC current affairs programme of the same name.

[edit] Sponsorships

The company is the former title sponsor of the Football League and current title sponsor of the Football Conference, the top level of the National League System, which governs competition in English football below the Premiership and Football League. It also sponsors the FA Women's Premier League, the top flight in English women's football. Individually, Nationwide sponsors two football league teams: Swindon Town FC and Northampton Town FC (Nationwide has offices in both of these towns). Nationwide also sponsors the Northern Ireland football team.

The company is also the sponsor of the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize.

Nationwide has signed a £50m deal with the England football team to sponsor it for the next four years. Its name will now be put on the board behind the manager at the press conferences as well as on the stand billboards.

[edit] Footnotes

^ http://nationwide.co.uk/about_nationwide/results_and_accounts/prelim_res_2005_2006.htm Preliminary results, NBS, 2005-06
^ Nationwide ditches iris and fingerprint biometrics, accessed 18 February 2007.

[edit] Subsidiary companies

Nationwide wholly owns several subsidiary companies, such as Nationwide International Ltd, Nationwide Trust Ltd and UCB Home Loans Corporation Ltd.

Nationwide International Ltd, based in Douglas on the Isle of Man, provides a range of offshore savings accounts denominated in Euro, pounds Sterling and US Dollar. The accounts are designed for British expatriates but are suitable for a variety of purposes.
- http://www.nationwideinternational.com