Nationwide urges members to back tripling of chief’s maximum bonus
Nationwide is urging members to vote in favour of tripling of its chief’s maximum long-term bonus, as the building society looks to bring her remuneration opportunity more in line with its high street rivals.
Chief executive Debbie Crosbie, who joined Nationwide from TSB Bank in June 2022, would see her maximum payout jump to £3.42m from £1.14m under the plans.
Nationwide told its 16m members in letters this week that the potential pay rise was a result of Crosbie’s remuneration opportunity currently sitting “substantially below UK banking peers of a similar size and complexity”.
Under Crosbie’s leadership, the society is poised to grow bigger and more diversified, having agreed to acquire Virgin Money for £2.9bn in March. The potential merger would see Nationwide grow its assets by a third, become the UK’s second-largest mortgages and savings provider, and expand into business banking.
The deal, poised to be the UK’s biggest banking tie-up since the financial crisis, is currently being probed by the Competition and Markets Authority, with an outcome due by 26 July. It also requires approval from the Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England and courts.
Nationwide said Crosbie could receieve up to £4.8m from the lifting of her maximum long-term bonus to an initial 190 per cent of base pay, with a plan to eventually raise it to 300 per cent.
Members are due to vote on the proposal at Nationwide’s annual meeting on 17 July. Some are calling for members to vote against all resolutions at the AGM after Nationwide chose not to put the Virgin Money deal to a vote among them.
Crosbie was paid £2.41m for the . This figure was up from £1.75m a year before, exlcuding a £1.71m “replacement award” to cover the forfeiture of variable pay awards from her role as CEO of TSB.
Under Crosbie, Nationwide has concentrated on championing its mutual status in contrast to the major listed banks. It is set to award £100 directly into the accounts of around 3.9m eligible members this month after reporting another bumper annual profit on the back of higher interest rates.
However, some adverts starring Dominic West were banned by the advertising watchdog in April for misleading consumers that Nationwide would not close brances like its “big bank” rivals.
A Nationwide spokesperson said Crosbie’s maximum bonus would only be paid for outstanding performance.
They added: “Nationwide is systemically important to the UK economy. We want to attract, retain and motivate talented individuals to continue to increase value for members and provide leading customer service.”