Nationwide Fairer Share

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Confused_Dog said:

Remember the Virgin Money current account, savings account and mortgage account holders are now on the books.

If Nationwide want to remain true to their ethos as a building society, at some point the Virgin Money customers have to become members.  Otherwise, you end up with a situation with a two tier customer base. The likes of Halifax and Alliance & Leicester who converted had this to a point, customers who opened an account after a particular date were classed as depositors rather members and thus were not entitled to shares when conversion took place.  However they were converting and at the time the likelihood of members turning down the offer of shares was small, even though as we now know conversion was not in the long-term interest of the former society members.

The Fairer Share payment may bring this to a head if it went ahead next year, especially if the press make it a big issue.

Remember there's nothing stopping holders of Virgin Money accounts changing them to the Nationwide product if they prefer the possibility of getting the Nationwide Exclusives at the expense of any Virgin Money Exclusives (like the cashback promotions and use of their coworking spaces). It's two tier both ways at the moment - Nationwide members don't get certain things that Virgin Money customers get.

Nationwide acquiring Virgin Money was a 1st, it's not comparable to the others. The other like for like is Coventry acquiring Coop Bank. I don't think there's any plan for Nationwide to become a bank (like your Alliance & Leicester and Halifax comparisons).