Nationwide take over of Virgin Money

flaneurs_lobster

Anyone know when I get my free money?

WillPS

flaneurs_lobster said:

Anyone know when I get my free money?

If you mean the "Fairer Share" active member payout, we'll find out on May 23rd. 

If you mean for some kind of switching bonus, you should have had it already.

If you mean for demutualisation, then never.

Section62

26left said:

WillPS said:

Officer_Dibble said:

We're in the "something very drastic" territory here. If Nationwide thought the deal would be sealed easily by the members they'd have called a meeting immediately.

First of all, unless the vote was actually required (and the law is clumsy unfortunately), then they couldn't do that - read Nils Pratley's article for an explanation 

I think that’s a key issue that’s worth discussing further:

Yes, Nils Pratley's article is being held up as some kind of proof issued by the final arbiter, whereas it is just another opinion in a sea of opinions.

The argument then being hung onto Nils Pratley's article goes on to miss the point that there is nothing in law or in the panel rules which absolutely prohibits Nationwide asking members to give their authority to expansion or takeovers.  It is simply a question of timing.  Had Nationwide asked members in last years AGM to endorse a plan to grow the business by X% - including the possibility of doing so through acquisitions - then some the disquiet now wouldn't have happened.  The Board would then have had a clear mandate from the members to go out and find us a good deal, and implement it in acordance with the panel rules.

One of the things I don't like about the no-vote campaign is this argument that Nationwide has to do 'x' because they aren't allowed to do 'y'.  I'd say if it isn't possible to acquire Virgin Money whilst giving members a say then the Board question should be "Is this something we should be doing?" rather than the suggested "We've got to do this and can't ask the members".

26left said:

I'm not a lawyer, but "must not normally" looks very different to "never".

26left said:

If it was a foregone conclusion, I think the board would have held one. The fact that it legally could have done, in compliance with the takeover code, and there was plenty of time, suggests the board isn’t secure in members backing this deal at all. 

I tend to agree with that.  But more importantly to me, it is the fundamental issue of whether it is right that the owners of our mutal building society don't get to shape the overall strategy and direction it takes. (other than in the farcical AGM 'elections')

steven141

It’s been approved https://uk.virginmoney.com/nationwide-and-virginmoney/

steven141

Quote from the website:

A further update on Virgin Money and Nationwide

Updated on 22 May 2024

Hello,

We’ve been keeping you up to date about the acquisition of Virgin Money by Nationwide and wanted to share the latest news. We’re pleased to announce that on 22nd May 2024, Virgin Money shareholders voted for the acquisition to proceed. This is a positive step towards our future as a strong combined group, with a wider range of products and services for all our customers.

The sale is still expected to complete in the fourth quarter this year, and Virgin Money will continue to operate as a separate business for some time after completion. For now, there’s no impact to your Virgin Money products or services (including Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank products and services), and no changes to FSCS deposit protections. If anything changes in the future, we’ll let you know in advance.

Just so you know, fraudsters often take advantage of times of change to try and persuade people to share personal or financial information. We’ll never ask you for security details, over the phone or by email, so if someone does – please don’t share this information with them.

We’ll keep our website up to date with the latest news and our teams are as committed as ever to delivering great service to you.

Thank you again for continuing to be a loyal customer.

David Duffy
CEO

jameseonline

Got this via email earlier today 

ForumUser7

Though I'm grateful for my fairer share payments, Nationwide are a nightmare to deal with. VM was bad too, but I rarely had to contact them despite using it as one of my main accounts. Even though they are separate still, I think I'll start to move over to a different main account to be safe!

Bridlington1

ForumUser7 said:

Though I'm grateful for my fairer share payments, Nationwide are a nightmare to deal with. VM was bad too, but I rarely had to contact them despite using it as one of my main accounts. Even though they are separate still, I think I'll start to move over to a different main account to be safe!

Personally I'll keep using them as one of my main nominated accounts, their systems work well enough for this purpose, I've got an 8% regular saver and they're giving me another £100 as a result.

I can't say I've had any real issues with Nationwide myself, though I must confess when I phoned them in February I did get the impression that one of their staff wasn't the best at using technology. I phoned them to get them to generate statements for my regular savers and was told that their computer systems were suffering technical issues and to phone back later. Two minutes later I received a phone call saying ``Right, I've turned the computer off and then back on again and now it's started working, which statements were you wanting again?". They got there in the end though.

pafpcg

Bridlington1 said:

ForumUser7 said:

Though I'm grateful for my fairer share payments, Nationwide are a nightmare to deal with. VM was bad too, but I rarely had to contact them despite using it as one of my main accounts. Even though they are separate still, I think I'll start to move over to a different main account to be safe!

......

I can't say I've had any real issues with Nationwide myself, though I must confess when I phoned them in February I did get the impression that one of their staff wasn't the best at using technology. I phoned them to get them to generate statements for my regular savers and was told that their computer systems were suffering technical issues and to phone back later. Two minutes later I received a phone call saying ``Right, I've turned the computer off and then back on again and now it's started working, which statements were you wanting again?". They got there in the end though.

What a refreshingly honest approach to customer interaction! 

WillPS

The Nationwide page about the deal has also been updated with more FAQs:
https://www.nationwide.co.uk/news-and-stories/nationwide-and-virgin-money/