An online petition demanding a vote on Nationwide’s deal to buy Virgin Money has surpassed 1,000 signatures.
The building society, which is owned by its 16 million customers, plans to join the lender to create Britain’s second largest savings and loan group. Nationwide insists the City’s takeover rules prevent the mutual from giving its members a vote on the £2.9bn deal.
But campaigners say buying the bank is risky and will weaken Nationwide’s strong balance sheet. It’s also unclear what benefits members get, they add.
Risky: Nationwide insists City takeover rules prevent mutual from giving members vote on £2.9bn deal
“Nationwide is trying to keep the debate to a minimum, but why are they so afraid to vote?” said petition organizer Mikael Armstrong. “Their approach seems to be ‘trust us’ – it’s a strange way to run a mutual.”
Armstrong delivered the change.org petition to the society’s headquarters in Swindon, with the 500 signatures that, under Nationwide rules, are needed to call a special meeting of members to discuss the deal.
Nationwide maintains that any member vote would be “advisory” and “non-binding.”