- Nationwide’s branch promise will be extended to Virgin Money branches
- Virgin and Nationwide savings will both be protected under FSCS up to £85k
Nationwide Building Society confirmed it has completed its controversial takeover of Virgin Money.
Britain’s largest building society informed members by email today that it has now completed the acquisition of Virgin Money.
Nationwide announced it had agreed a £2.9billion deal to take over Virgin Money in March.
Sealed the deal: Nationwide’s takeover of Virgin Money has been completed. It was announced in March this year
Nationwide members did not get to vote on the takeover. The building society refused demands for a member vote, claiming it was not legally necessary and would be impossible to conduct within a short time period owing to its massive membership base.
Virgin shareholders voted 89 per cent in favour to accept the takeover and it was see the Virgin Money name gradually disappear by 2028.
Virgin chief executive David Duffy has stepped down and will be replaced by chief finance officer Chris Rhodes. It has more than 6million customers, including those with savings and mortgages.
The deal saw Nationwide offer a 38 per cent premium to Virgin Money’s closing price on 6 March, the day before it was revealed.
Here is what will change now that the takeover of Virgin Money has completed.
Branches
Virgin Money branches are now included in Nationwide’s branch promise, Nationwide says.
This means that everywhere there is a Nationwide or Virgin Money branch, they will still be there until at least the start of 2028, even where there is a Nationwide branch and a Virgin Money branch close by.
Customers will not be able to use Virgin Money branches for Nationwide transactions yet.
Nationwide said over time it expects to broaden the range of services it offers, but did not give a time frame.
The mutual also said customers will benefit from Virgin Money expertise in personal lending and credit cards, as well as business banking and accounts for clubs and societies.
Savings and passbooks
Customers who have savings with both Nationwide and Virgin Money will be protected under the maximum protection offered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme on each of their Nationwide and Virgin Money accounts.
This is because Virgin Money has its own banking licence, held by Clydesdale Bank. Customers with savings in both Nationwide and Virgin Money will benefit from protection up to £85,000 offered by FSCS both on their Nationwide and their Virgin Money accounts.
This is Money revealed that Nationwide is scraping passbooks from February 2025 and replacing them with a ‘modernised’ savings wallet.
Nationwide said 2 per cent of its 16million customer base currently use passbooks.
At Nationwide’s online AGM in July, chief executive Debbie Crosbie confirmed Nationwide would go ahead with it’s modernised savings wallet.
In the last financial year, Virgin Money generated pre-tax profits of £345million and announced distributions of around £270million to shareholders, it reported in its annual report and accounts 2023.
Based on market analysts’ forecasts for Virgin Money’s pre-tax profits in 2024, Nationwide said the acquisition of Virgin Money would represent a 17 per cent return on the purchase price.
Kevin Parry, Nationwide’s chairman said: ‘Nationwide is still a mutual and owned by our members.
‘All of the profits generated by Virgin Money will be retained for the benefit of customers and, for the first time in the UK, a full-service business bank will be part of a large mutual.’
Mortgages
For those with a Virgin Money mortgage, not much changes for now and the home loan will continue as normal.
As the brand is phased out, it is likely Virgin mortgage holders will be transferred to Nationwide.
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