Dramatic takeover by Nationwide of Virgin Money by Britain’s top woman banker

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Nationwide is about to take over Virgin Money in a single of essentially the most audacious takeovers, making it an enormous within the private finance world.

It is the most important deal ever made by a feminine banker after Nationwide CEO Debbie Crosbie introduced the deliberate acquisition within the inventory market on Thursday morning.

The deal, introduced on the eve of International Women’s Day, will imply the brand new firm can have property of greater than £370bn.

Both manufacturers will nonetheless work individually within the quick time period and no Virgin Money department closures are anticipated.

As nicely as whole property of £366.6bn – Nationwide’s £274.5bn and Virgin Money’s £91.8bn – the takeover will imply a mixed 24.5m prospects and 696 branches.

Nationwide has the most important single-brand community within the UK and the mixed group can have the second-largest group department community behind Lloyds HBOS.

The mixed group will even be the second-largest mortgage supplier within the UK, overtaking NatWest.

Nationwide will prolong its “Branch Promise” to Virgin Money branches – to retain a department in every single place the place the mixed group is current till no less than the beginning of 2026.

One private finance accountant mentioned: “The good news for consumers is that Virgin Money has a terrible customer relations reputation while Nationwide has won awards for exactly that.”

This shock proposed buy places Nationwide once more within the highlight after Ms Crosbie initiated essentially the most dramatic rebranding within the British excessive road for many years.

Ms Crosbie mentioned: “Importantly, Nationwide will remain a building society, and a combined group would bring the benefits of fairer banking and mutual ownership to more people in the UK, including our continuing commitment to retain existing branches, as part of our ‘Branch Promise’ and leading levels of customer service.

“We believe the combination would create a stronger and more diverse business that will be better placed to deliver value to our members and customers, both now and in the future.”

This is a breaking story, extra follows.