Nationwide shows its support for savers, homebuyers and current account customers
Nationwide Building Society has reinforced its support for savers and homebuyers, as well as strengthening its position in the current account market, with the publication of its half year results:
In the six months ending 30 September 2014:
Nationwide opened a new current account every 50 seconds, growing its share of the current account market to 6.6%
A customer switched their current account to Nationwide every four minutes, positioning the Society as a real alternative to the banks
The FlexPlus current account was named best packaged account by Which? with Nationwide’s newly launched FlexOne youth account also topping the Which? chart for children’s accounts
Nearly a million members (970,000) benefited from higher interest rates via its Loyalty Saver
Nationwide accounted for more than 20% (20.7%) of the growth in ISA balances following the change to ISA rules the Society long campaigned for
Nearly 24,000 (23,800) people bought their first home with Nationwide and the Society accounted for almost a quarter (24.8%) of all net mortgage lending, ahead of its par market share
The Society was ranked number one for customer service satisfaction1 on the high street for the third consecutive year, strengthening its lead over competitors, and was the number one high street financial services provider in Nunwood’s 2014 UK Customer Experience Excellence study2
More transactions now take place on Nationwide’s mobile banking app than its internet bank, reinforcing a growth in digital innovation that includes developments like the Impulse Saver and Quick Balance features on its banking app, and becoming the first UK financial services provider to deliver access to real time account balances on Android Wear smartwatches
These highlights reflect a strong set of half-year interim results, with underlying profits up 83% to £606 million and statutory profit up 113% to £598 million. Nationwide has continued to strengthen its capital position with a CET1 ratio now standing at 17.6% and a leverage ratio increasing to 3.8%.
Graham Beale, Chief Executive of Nationwide Building Society, said: “The first six months of this financial year reflect the growing strength of the Society and our ability to deliver better service than our banking peers. Consistent with our mutual heritage, we offer an attractive range of products designed to be transparent, fair and good value. This is reinforced by a culture which is focused entirely on the needs of our membership and is in contrast to the traditional shareholder model of the banks.
“We have developed new products, invested in technologies which give our members greater choice in the way they manage their financial affairs, and have rewarded loyal members with some market-leading product offers. Alongside this, we have delivered a strong financial performance and improved our capital position. As a result, our Common Equity Tier 1 ratio is the highest in our peer group, which underlines our position as a safe and secure financial services provider for our members.
“As a mutual, we pride ourselves on the quality of our service; we strive to be the best and our record is testament to this ambition. We have been ranked number one for customer satisfaction amongst our high street peer group for three consecutive years, and our lead over our nearest competitor has grown by two percentage points to 6.2% compared with the lead we reported at the year end (March 2014: 4.2%). In addition, Which? magazine’s recent survey of banking customer service rated Nationwide as the highest ranked high street provider of retail financial services. Most recently, in Nunwood’s 2014 UK Customer Experience Excellence study Nationwide was the number one financial services high street brand and ranked eighth overall out of 263 brands. This contrasts with our established high street banking peers, none of whom made the top 50.”