building society mutual industry banking and financial services founded 1846 earliest components headquarters swindon wiltshire england key people david roberts chairman joe garner chief executive products retail banking savings mortgage loans investments insurance current accounts loans home insurance travel insurance credit cards number of employees around 18 000 website www.nationwide.co.uk former logo nationwide anglia nationwide building society is a british mutual financial institution and the largest building society in the world . it has its headquarters in swindon with an office in threadneedle street london and with administration centres based in bournemouth northampton and dunfermline . made up of over a hundred mergers most notably its merger with anglia building society in 1987 and portman building society in 2007 nationwide is now the second largest provider of household savings and mortgages in the uk . it also has a 7.1 % market share of current accounts and was ranked number one for customer service satisfaction amongst its high street peer group for the 3 months ending 31 march 2016 . 1 for the financial year 2015 2016 nationwide had assets of around 208.9 billion 2 compared to 331 billion for the entire building society sector 3 making it larger than the remaining 44 british building societies combined . needs update it is a member of the building societies association the council of mortgage lenders and co operatives uk . 4 in 2016 nationwide appeared 3rd in the sunday times top 25 big companies to work for poll 5 up from 6th in 2015 . nationwide also came 2nd in the british bank awards 2016 . 6 contents 1 history 2 mutual status 3 controversies 4 products and services 5 financial performance 6 credit rating 7 subsidiaries 8 key people 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit nationwide building society s head office in swindon wiltshire the society s origins lie in the northampton town & county freehold land society 1848 and the southern co operative permanent building society london 1884 . the co operative permanent based at new oxford house in the london borough of camden changed its name to nationwide building society in 1970 reflecting an organisation that had coverage throughout the country after a decision by the british co operative union in august 1970 . the new name was put to a member vote with members voting 135 675 to 15 585 in favour . 7 in 1987 the northampton based anglia building society merged with nationwide . the new society was known as nationwide anglia building society at first but the anglia name was dropped in 1992 . nationwide launched the uk s first internet banking service on 27 may 1997 . 8 in 1999 nationwide together with various uk tabloid newspapers and media launched a campaign against controversial cash machine fees . the campaign reached a peak when barclays bank announced a plan to charge all customers of rival banks and financial providers including those of nationwide 1 for every cash machine withdrawal made from a barclays owned cash machine . this prompted nationwide to warn barclays that it would take legal action against the bank if it did not back down . nationwide claimed barclays had broken the rules of the link network of cash machines which the bank had joined earlier in the year . the following year withdrawals from most cash machines owned by uk banks were made free for customers of all banks and building societies throughout the uk . nationwide completed a merger with portman building society on 28 august 2007 creating a mutual body with assets of over 160 billion and around 13 million members . portman s earliest component was the provident union building society founded in ramsbury wiltshire in 1846 . in the financial crisis of 2007 2010 the nationwide acted to safeguard the mutual sector acquiring the ailing cheshire and derbyshire building societies in september 2008 9 followed by the dunfermline building society on 30 march 2009 . 10 on 24 march 2009 nationwide opened a direct savings branch in dublin ireland called nationwide uk ireland to distinguish it from the unconnected irish nationwide building society . 11 having operated under their own brands as divisions of nationwide in 2012 it was announced that the cheshire derbyshire and dunfermline building societies would be integrated into nationwide . the rebranding of each business was phased with the dunfermline first to be merged in june 2014 . 12 13 the cheshire and derbyshire followed in october and november 2014 respectively . on 22 may 2015 it was announced that the society s chief executive graham beale intended to retire . on 16 november 2015 nationwide announced that joe garner ceo of openreach would succeed graham as nationwide ceo in spring 2016 . 14 joe garner joined the society as chief executive on 5 april 2016 . mutual status edit nationwide is committed to staying mutual and is keen to emphasise that it has members rather than shareholders . however it has had challenges against its mutual status in the past . nationwide was by far the largest british building society that did not convert to a bank in the wave of demutualisations that occurred from the late 1980s to the late 1990s . in 1998 society members seeking a windfall branded as carpetbaggers by the uk media meant nationwide members had to vote on whether to demutualise the society and float on the london stock exchange . the attempt failed despite media reports of possible pay outs to members of around 1 000 to 1 500 each as nationwide members voted by a narrow margin of 33 700 against converting the building society into a bank . 15 society carpetbaggers proposed a resolution in 2001 for another vote by nationwide members to convert the society to a bank . the resolution was rejected by the nationwide board on legal grounds . 16 controversies edit in the wake of the financial crisis executive pay practices came under increasing scrutiny at nationwide as in the rest of the financial sector . the building society members association began to campaign against acceptance of remuneration reports at agms in 2009 17 and with the ceo s compensation rising 45 % to 2.25 million by 2012 18 the board s levels of pay attracted criticism on this is money 19 and in the guardian 20 and the huffington post . 21 products and services edit a branch of nationwide in southampton nationwide building society provides financial services both directly and through around 700 branches . nationwide is a major provider of both mortgage loans and savings in the uk as well as personal banking such as loans credit cards bank accounts and insurance products . nationwide.co.uk is the main website . financial performance edit for the 2015 2016 preliminary results april 2015 april 2016 underlying profits were up 9 % to 1.337 billion while statutory profits rose by 23 % to 1.279 billion . cost income ratio was 53.9 % . 22 common equity tier 1 and leverage ratios improved to 23.2 % and 4.2 % . gross and net lending were at 32.6 billion and 9.1 billion respectively . nationwide helped 57 200 people buy their first home . member deposits increased by 6.3 billion . 23 credit rating edit nationwide s long term credit rating as of february 2016 was a1 with moody s a with standard & poor s and a with fitch ratings . 24 subsidiaries edit nationwide also owns several subsidiary companies 25 including nationwide international limited offshore deposit taker nationwide syndications limited syndicated lending the mortgage works uk plc specialised mortgage lender ucb home loans corporation limited specialised mortgage lender derbyshire home loans limited specialised mortgage lender e mex home funding limited specialised mortgage lender key people edit david roberts chairman joe garner chief executive tony prestedge chief operating officer mark rennison group finance director chris rhodes executive director group retail sara bennison chief marketing officer julia dunn chief compliance officer graeme hughes group director distribution iain laing chief risk officer alison robb group director people customer communications & commercial see also edit nationwide group staff union references edit preliminary results for the year ended 4 april 2016 pdf . preliminary results for the year ended 4 april 2016 pdf . key stats . building societies association . our history . nationwide building society . retrieved 16 november 2015 . dominic o connell 26 february 2016 . the sunday times 100 best companies . the sunday times . retrieved 5 march 2016 . british bank awards 2016 . money market uk . retrieved 13 may 2016 . nationwide building society timeline 1970 . facebook . retrieved 16 november 2015 . dead link nationwide celebrates ten years of internet banking . nationwide building society . 22 may 2007 . retrieved 16 november 2015 . dead link nationwide rescues small lenders . bbc news . 8 september 2008 . retrieved 3 march 2013 . nationwide takes over dunfermline . bbc news . 30 march 2009 . retrieved 3 march 2013 . world s largest building society opens for business in ireland . nationwide building society . 24 march 2009 . archived from the original on april 28 2009 . retrieved 3 march 2013 . nationwide building society 20 march 2014 . regional brands integration . nationwide building society . retrieved 16 november 2015 . dunfermline to be merged with nationwide . bbc news . 24 october 2013 . retrieved 24 october 2013 . http www.nationwide.co.uk about media centre and specialist areas media centre press releases archive 2015 11 16 nationwide building society appoints joe garner as chief executive nationwide building society appoints joe garner as chief executive 16 november 2015 business the company file conversion rejected . bbc news . 23 july 1998 . retrieved 3 march 2013 . rupert jones 21 april 2001 . blow for carpetbaggers . the guardian . retrieved 16 november 2015 . alan debenham . building societies members association nationwide building society . retrieved 29 june 2013 . patrick collinson 22 june 2012 . nationwide scales up on executive pay . the guardian . retrieved 29 june 2013 . james salmon 25 june 2013 . nationwide faces day of reckoning as it grapples with 1bn black hole and lavishes seven figure sums on top brass . this is money . retrieved 29 june 2013 . patrick collinson 22 june 2012 . nationwide scales up on executive pay . the guardian . retrieved 29 june 2013 . asa k cusack 25 june 2013 . nationwide executive pay is a disgrace to mutualism fight back at the agm . the huffington post . retrieved 29 june 2013 . preliminary results for the year ended 4 april 2016 pdf . nationwide building society full year results long term focus drives strong performance . http www.nationwide.co.uk about investor relations introduction all about nationwide membership . nationwide building society . retrieved 16 november 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to nationwide building society . official website nationwide commercial nationwide international nationwide uk ireland v t e nationwide building society divisions and subsidiaries derbyshire building society the mortgage works nationwide international nationwide uk ireland ucb home loans trade union nationwide group staff union v t e independent building societies in the united kingdom bath beverley buckinghamshire cambridge chorley coventry cumberland darlington dudley earl shilton ecology furness hanley economic harpenden hinckley and rugby holmesdale ipswich leeds leek united loughborough manchester mansfield market harborough marsden melton monmouthshire national counties nationwide newbury newcastle nottingham penrith principality progressive saffron scottish skipton stafford railway swansea teachers tipton & coseley vernon west bromwich yorkshire v t e building societies in the republic of ireland subsidiary leeds building society ireland nationwide uk ireland demutualised first national ics now part of bank of ireland irish permanent ebs a subsidiary of allied irish banks irish nationwide merged into irish bank resolution corporation v t e great recession by region africa americas united states