Nationwide has confirmed that millions of members will once again receive a £100 bonus payment later this year as the building societyposts a substantial jump in annual profits.
For the third year running, a ‘Fairer Share’ payment of £100 will be distributed to eligible Nationwide members. The bank says that this includes over 4 million people in 2025, up from 3.85 million last year and 3.4 million the year before.
The initiative will cost the building society £400 million – the most it has ever distributed as part of the Fairer Share Scheme.
As with previous years, receiving the payment will be subject to certain eligibility criteria. The building society explains that it will go to “eligible members choosing Nationwide for their everyday banking, in addition to holding a qualifying savings or mortgage product.”
Those who qualify will see the payment paid directly into their account between 18 June and 4 July, Nationwide has confirmed.
The payment comes as Nationwide posts a 30 per cent jump in annual profits after an “outstanding” year that saw it complete the takeover of Virgin Money. The firm was able to pay its members a one-off £615 million ‘Thank You’ reward earlier this year following the deal.
The mutual reported pre-tax profits of £2.3 billion for the year to 31 March, up from £1.8 billion the previous year, which came despite it handing out a record £2.8 billion in value to members including £1 billion in rewards.
On an underlying basis, pre-tax profits fell to £1.9 billion from £2 billion as Nationwide said it focused on offering competitive interest rates to customers.
Debbie Crosbie, group chief executive of Nationwide Building Society, said: “Nationwide has had an outstanding twelve months.
“We returned a record £2.8 billion in value to our members and recorded our highest ever year for growth in mortgage lending and retail deposit balances.”
She added: “The Virgin Money performance was strong in the six months since our acquisition, with improvements in customer service and a return to growth in mortgage lending.”
The firm completed the £2.9 billion takeover of Virgin Money last year, which has seen it become the UK’s second largest mortgages and savings provider.
The group said integration of the acquisition was “progressing well”.
Nationwide said it was continuing to run the two businesses separately initially after the acquisition and had no plans for job cuts in the short-term.
But Ms Crosbie said it was “too early to say” what impact there would be on staff of the combined group further out as it integrates the businesses.
“Every business always reviews its workforce and we’ll continue to do that on an ongoing basis, but it’s too early to say if there’ll be an impact on the broader workforce,” she said.
She also signalled Nationwide would keep Virgin Money’s Newcastle headquarters, with Ms Crosbie saying “the current footprint that we have will remain the same”.
