Almost half Nationwide members back £2.9bn merger with Virgin Money, finds poll

Research carried out by Nationwide Building Society showed that 44 per cent of its members are in favour of its £2.9billion merger with Virgin Money.

A further 48 per cent said they were ‘neutral’ about the plan – but hoped Nationwide would not change its service or mutual status.

Of the 10,499 members surveyed, 8 per cent were opposed to the takeover.

Virgin Money merger: Some of those who are against the deal are campaigning for Nationwide to hold a special meeting to give members a voice.

The figures came in a poll conducted by Nationwide this weekend. The merger announced last month would create a lender with 25 million customers and 700 branches.

But some disgruntled customers have called on the building society to allow its 16million members a vote on the deal. They say refusing to give them a say betrays Nationwide’s mutual ownership principles.

Those members were concerned about Virgin Money’s reputation, the impact of the merger on customer service, Nationwide’s ethics as a building society and not being given the option to vote on the deal.

‘My perception is that Virgin Money has a poor reputation and this acquisition has not been put to members for their vote,’ said a member opposing the deal. ‘This is against the principles of our building society and this is simply wrong.’

Some of those who are against the deal are campaigning for Nationwide to hold a special meeting to give members a voice.

A petition demanding a meeting had received almost 3,000 signatures by Friday. Meanwhile, even those who were neutral on the merger expressed concerns that customer service might suffer and that ‘expanding is not always the right thing to do’.

But a customer in favour of the takeover said: ‘Anything that guarantees a secure future preserving the integrity of Nationwide and its ability to provide excellent customer service – including availability of branches – gets my vote.’

As part of the deal, Nationwide has pledged to keep all its branches open until at least 2028 – as well as Virgin Money’s 91 sites.

Nationwide will continue to use the Virgin Money brand until at least 2030, but eventually the Virgin Money name will disappear from the high Street.