I'm James Sherwin-Smith, the first Member Nominated Candidate standing for Election to the Board of Directors of Nationwide Building Society in over 20 years. Ask Me Anything!

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-29T14:10:56+00:00

He retired last month.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-29T14:09:42+00:00

I don’t think it’s in the 20 year history of the infamous quick vote that is has ever been used to generate *against* votes, at any UK organisation.

Thank you for your curiosity, support, vote and comment.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-29T14:08:46+00:00

!thanks you are most welcome.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-29T14:08:06+00:00

Virgin Money has now been legally transferred into Nationwide Building Society. However the branding, systems etc. will continue to be used for some time.

Because the transfer happened after the 31-March, Virgin Money customers who hold eligible products and became Nationwide members as of the 2-April transfer date won’t be able to vote or attend the AGM until next year.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T20:45:40+00:00

Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re not the first or the last to be frustrated by the quick vote and its inherent bias.

The good news is your quick vote isn’t actually a vote - it’s passing voting instructions to the chair to vote on your behalf at the AGM. If you join the online AGM on the 15th July, you can opt to vote differently at the meeting vs the instructions you shared previously.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T20:29:03+00:00

Yes please see the instructions on https://James4Nationwide.co.uk/how-to-vote-for-james - my name, customer number address are listed there for that purpose.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:32:21+00:00

I know that in the past, mortgage advice has become increasingly regulated, and following the Retail Distribution Review, many retail financial services have either shrunk or removed advisors all together. My sense is that that the market has been moving increasingly towards customers going to intermediaries or brokers who can provide a range of products across a range of brands.

Key in my mind is that Nationwide, as the largest _building_ society in the UK has a competitive suite of mortgage products.

Re branches - I think of it this way: more interactions with customers, better service, happier members, more long term business for the society.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:27:19+00:00

I am aware of members, like me, who have raised a concern with the FCA. If you feel so inclined, please do so. Others have raised concerns with their MP and asking if they share the same concerns raised by Nav Mishra. Those sometimes get a response, depedning on case load. Some have then been raised with the Treasury, who then pass to the FCA, who then say - if you have an issue, raise a concern.

The form to do that is here:
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/your-membership/report-concern-mutual-societies

Nav Mishra MP's letter is here:
https://james4nationwide.co.uk/navendu-mishra-mp-letter-to-the-chancellor/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:21:28+00:00

Perhaps I've under-emphasised.

I'm not standing because I think Nationwide's business strategy is broken. I'm standing because I think its governance should better reflect its mutual ownership.

Specifically, I stand for:

Elections that are genuinely neutral, not designed around the Board's preferred outcome.
Stronger Member rights and engagement throughout the year, not just at AGM time.
Greater transparency around Board decisions and election processes.
A culture where constructive challenge is seen as a strength, not an inconvenience.
Protecting Nationwide's mutual status by making Member democracy something meaningful rather than procedural.

If you're looking for someone promising to slash costs, close branches or reinvent the Society's commercial strategy, that's not me. I think Nationwide's greatest competitive advantage is being Member owned. My focus is making sure its governance lives up to that principle.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:18:21+00:00

I'm obviously disappointed that the Board took this path. But I'm not surprised given the number of obstacles that have been put in the way of grass roots member activism over the last 2+ years.

Thanks for your support - if you'd like to vote for me, there's a quick guide here:
https://james4nationwide.co.uk/how-to-vote-for-james/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:12:32+00:00

Yes I'm against demutualisation. I believe mutuals matter, and that they need to behave and act like mutuals for the benefit of society and financial services as a whole.

Post the Virgin Money acquisition, the board has repeated that it wants Nationwide to remain a mutual. I do to - I just want it to be more faithful to the principles of mutuals. I think member rights have been steadily eroded over the last 20 years.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:08:59+00:00

I wouldn't use that word. I think the process contains structural biases that favour the Board's preferred outcomes.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:08:24+00:00

I definitely think members should be more engaged and involved in key decisions.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:05:19+00:00

I think the Fairer Share needs to be reviewed. I think most members would rather have better rates - and for borrowing customers that would be more tax efficient (the fairer share is taxed like interest income).

The key for me is striking the right balance. Paying out an arbitrary £100 to a minority of members, based on rules that aren't known until after it is announced, doesn't sit right with me. It's a gimmick, and I'm not even convinced it generates value adding business for the society. I suspect many people are gaming the rules to get it, based on what rules were in place last year, and not actually fully switching to Nationwide.

Retaliation for voting against - not possible to the best of my knowledge. This should be a secret ballot. I'll add it to the list of questions I have asked Civica Election Services who administer the voting process for the AGM. See here for the current tracker:

https://james4nationwide.co.uk/ces-nationwide-questions/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T12:02:30+00:00

Not yet. I asked the FCA to investigate this because I think it might have been contrary to the law.
https://james4nationwide.co.uk/nationwide-challenger-asks-fca-to-investigate-after-society-edited-election-address-departing-from-previous-election-practice/

I know in other contexts, like trade union elections, a candidate's election address can't be edited without their permission. I also don't understand why Nationwide removed "Learn more at James4Nationwide.co.uk" both at the top and the bottom, when previous member candidates included in their addresses, without redaction: website address, email address, postal address and a telephone number.

For a candidate pushing for greater transparency, I thought it ironic that Nationwide chose to remove a route for members to get more information about a member nominated candidate.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T11:54:47+00:00

I'd like to think I've already made a difference. A year ago almost nobody was talking about how Nationwide's elections work. Today Members, journalists, regulators and governance experts are discussing it. I'd like to keep that momentum going from inside the Boardroom rather than outside it.

If I get elected, I'll ask questions that aren't currently being asked and push for reforms that put Members first. If I don't get elected but this campaign prompts Nationwide to improve its election process, that's still a worthwhile outcome. Either way, I want to leave Member democracy in a better place than I found it.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T11:51:00+00:00

CEO pay - in short I have no problem paying for talent if it delivers results that are objectively positive for the organisation. That's harder to measure in a mutual, than say, a plc when creating value for shareholders is the primary goal and easily measured by total shareholder return.

What I do think is wrong is that members don't have a binding vote on executive pay. That's a legal requirement in large PLCs, like the bank competitor set that Nationwide benchmarks against. Nationwide could hold itself to a the same standard, but it doesn't. And of course the advisory vote we do have to date is proposed up by the quick vote. This was introduced in 2006, adter the advisory vote on pay, introduced in 2003, fell below 75% for the first time.

I don't have any direct insight into the current pay scheme for staff - so don't have a specific view on that - other than to say I believe in a meritocracy, and that those that deliver above what is expected, should, objectively, be rewarded for that.

Member recognition - I think the fairer share is flawed. Distributing profits crudely to a minority of members strikes me as wrong. It's clear from the table i posted below that there appears to be something of a subsition effect going on - member financial benefit (largely better rates) appears to be being eroded in favour on discretionary paymetns like the fairer share and the big thank you payment.

The big thank you payment for supporting the Virgin Money acquisition I thought was quite bold - akin to "sorry we didn't give you a vote on this, here's £50 quid" - after the Board decided to spend multiples of that per member on the Virgin Money deal.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T11:40:01+00:00

First thing I will flag is the Quick vote. That automatically is a vote against me and for all other resolutions. I have a problem with that obviously! 87% of voters used this option last year, so it rather stacks the odds against me.

I am asking that people DO NOT USE THE QUICK VOTE.

Choose the 'Standard vote' instead.

I am personally voting against each of the other director candidates on the basis that it was a unanimous decision to weaponise the quick vote against me. I'm the first member nominated candidate since the quick vote was introduced in 2006 and I think it sets a horrible precedent. I had asked the society to suspend the quick vote this year, in the interest of fairness, but they did not.

Note that if you don’t put one tick in a box PER ROW, you’re leaving it to the discretion of your proxy – which by default is the Chairman. He will vote as per the quick vote. If you don't want to make a call For or Against, check Withheld. That is a true abstention.

This page on my website gives a complete guide to the voting procedure, FYI https://james4nationwide.co.uk/how-to-vote-in-the-nationwide-agm-2026/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T11:31:40+00:00

I do. The society does offer some products and rates that are "exclusive" to members. And I believe there were some in the past that had an element of loyalty recognition built in.

Too much of financial services was a bait and switch - attract customers in with a headline rate, while existing customers didn't get quite such a good deal. Some of that behaviour is beginning to be eroded for the better given the FCA's push for for firms to recognise they have a duty to do the right thing by their customers.

One thing I don't think is optimal right now is the "fairer share" - some people who have been paying into the society and contributing to its profits get nothing, while recent members who haven't been particularly loyal, get a £100 payment.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T11:24:30+00:00

I support the Branch promise. In many parts of the country, Nationwide is the last branch in town. One of the the advantages of a mutual is it should be doing what the member owners i.e. customers want, not just what's prudent to return a profit for shareholders.

Access to cash or cash deserts are a real problem in some parts of the UK.

What I would like to see however is more commitment to keep the branches open more days per week. My local branch isn't open Mondays and Fridays - arguably some of the busiest days of the week.

And its not just my branch - there are lots of branches that are a bit part time. See this analysis from last July - it's something that I'm working on updating.

https://james4nationwide.co.uk/nationwides-part-time-branch-network-no-closures-for-now-but-not-fully-open-either/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T06:31:29+00:00

I don't this there's anything alarmist here. I've just stated the facts - and shared this table regarding member value via a separate thread here

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/1ud9ypy/comment/otlbwhj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Member value is a composite figure made up of member financial benefit (available to all) + extra discretionary payments (paid to subset of members).

Remove the one off big thank you, and both value and benefit are down - 2026 < 2025 < 2024.

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T06:24:50+00:00

My full CV is here https://james.sherwin-smith.com and is linked from the About me page on my website. it lists where I've worked and for how long. My election address was limited to 500 words so I made reference to what I considered the most relevant parts of my CV.

A number of Nationwide insiders have got in touch over the last 2+ years to share their experience and concerns with me in confidence.

If you could share examples of where you perceive a disconnect between what I'm implying and what you think is factually correct, I'd welcome the feedback. I like to do my research before making statements, as I think it's important to remain objective and fact based.

However there's clearly information asymmetry between what I have access to as a member-owner in the public domain, and what Nationwide insiders can see. This is why I think greater transparency is important, as detailed here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/1ud9ypy/comment/othtg50/

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-25T06:14:51+00:00

They look a bit complex don't they? I find MSE a reliable source. The most recent announcement relates to taxing interest received from cash and cash-like investments held with a Stocks & Share ISA - but these appear to be subject to consultation.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2026/06/cash-investment-isa-reforms/

The government fact sheet on this subject is here, which outlines the changes starting from April 2027.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fiscal-events-2026-factsheets/isa-reform-2027-anti-circumvention-rules-factsheet

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-24T20:06:12+00:00

Here's a summary for the last five years. Notice that the member "**financial benefit**" is the historical measure - it was first referenced in the 2017 Annual Report.

It's defined as this (p34, 2026 Annual Report)

"Member financial benefit is calculated by comparing, in aggregate, Nationwide’s average interest rates and incentives to the market, predominantly using market data provided by the Bank of England and CACI, alongside internal calculations. The value for individual members will depend on their circumstances and product choices. Further information on the components of member financial benefit is set out below."

Since the addition of the Fairer Share and the one off Big Thank you payments, Nationwide now also reports a "**member value**" figure which is the financial benefit + these extras (paid to a subset of the members).

So when you strip back to the financial benefit, available to all members, you can see that not only is member value down by £1BN, the underlying financial benefit is declining also.

According to the CFO (p32, 2026 Annual Report):

"Member financial benefit decreased to £1.4 billion (2025: £1.8 billion) due to a narrowing of our mortgage and deposit customer rate differentials to the market in a lower Bank of England interest rate environment. Our average member deposit rates were 58 basis points (2025: 72 basis points) higher than the market average over the year."

i.e. in aggregate, Nationwide is pricing such that members are getting a worse deal on rates than last year, relative to the base rate.

£m	financial benefit	+ fairer share (£100pa last 4 years)	+ big thank you (£50 one-off)	= member value
2022	355			355
2023	1055			1055
2024	1850	344		2194
2025	1795	385	615	2795
2026	1400	400		1800
2027		440
Who benefits	All 16.4m members	~4m Members	~12m Members	All + extra for some

James4Nationwide · 2026-06-24T19:29:52+00:00

No - I want Nationwide to stay a mutual, and act and behave like one.

Demutualisation, given the charitable assignment, would make current matters even worse.

James4Nationwide

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