• Swindon & Wiltshire Economy
• Friday November 17 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Profits boom at Nationwide could mean more payouts for members

Rising profits at Swindon-headquartered building society Nationwide meant record payouts for its members, the mutual announced this morning (Friday).

The group reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £1.3 billion for the six months to September, up from £980 million the year before.

The society is owned by its members – those who bank or have a mortgage with it – rather than external shareholders, who might be in line for a payout following a £100 Fairer Share Payment to over 3.4 million members in June, totalling £344 million.

Despite a subdued housing market resulting in lower mortgage lending, higher borrowing costs boosted the society’s income by £250 million.

Meanwhile deposits grew by £4.2 billion as more savers shopped around for better fixed-rate savings deals. Nationwide is currently offering a market-leading £200 incentive for people to switch their current accounts to the society.

Chief executive Debbie Crosby said: “Nationwide delivered a total of £1,229 million in value to our members this half year. This included our inaugural Nationwide Fairer Share Payment of £344 million and our highest ever half year member financial benefit of £885 million from pricing and incentives that were better than the market average.

“We passed a greater proportion of interest rate rises to savers than the market average and are investing to grow our customer base through service improvements and our current account switching incentive, which we relaunched in September 2023.

“Nationwide is performing strongly, and our strategy is to safeguard the future strength of the Society and provide a good way to bank for customers.

“We are the main challenger to shareholder-owned banks and use our mutual status to make a meaningful impact on communities and improve society.”