Millions of Nationwide customers are set to receive an update on the £100 Fairer Share bonus this week. The lender is expected to make an announcement on Thursday, May 21, regarding whether it will continue the programme for the fourth consecutive year.
Last year, eligibility required customers to have a qualifying current account open on March 31, 2025, along with either at least £100 in total savings or a minimum of £100 owed on a mortgage on the same date.
Boardroom contest at Nationwide
In a separate development, Nationwide Building Society will have one of its customers vying for a boardroom seat at its annual general meeting (AGM) on July 15. James Sherwin-Smith, a 45-year-old who has been a vocal advocate for reforming the governance of the 142-year-old mutual, is running for election.
According to The Guardian, Sherwin-Smith spent two years gathering more than 250 peer nominations from scratch. He acknowledged the difficulty of the process, stating, "I didn't expect the process to be easy, but I also didn't expect that securing the necessary nominations would be quite this hard."
Expert views on governance
Andrew Johnston, a professor of company law and corporate governance at Warwick University, commented on the challenge: "Getting 250 people to nominate you is no small hurdle." He added, "I suspect they don't want him on the board because he's going to just ask lots of awkward questions about stuff that they want to do."
Johnston further noted, "The managers of the mutual are insulated from outside pressure. Is it good or bad? The answer is always: it depends. If they're not being held accountable to anybody, then they could be abusing their position or the quality of their decisions could be poor, and they're just not having to justify themselves. So it creates a danger of groupthink."
Nationwide customers and members will be watching closely for both the bonus announcement and the outcome of the board election.
