Record numbers of members are seeing the benefits of mutuality - from service to value - and with growing demand for enhanced services, Nationwide wants to be on the front foot as it adapts to meet the changing needs of consumers, for today and tomorrow. As a result of previous investment Nationwide is today one of the fastest growing current account providers in the market and last year more people opened an account with the Society than with any other brand. The investments announced today are designed to help Nationwide take this growth the next step and also explore entry into new markets such as SME.
The investment, which will see between 750 and 1,000 jobs created over time and the opening of a new dedicated technology hub to drive innovation as the Society builds skills for the future. This commitment to the hiring and development of the technology skills in the market reflects Nationwide’s commitment to deliver the best experience for its 15 million members.
Specifically, the new technology investment will address six areas, being:
- Simplify: Radical simplification of underlying application and infrastructure estate to enable growth. This will increase innovation and enable greater efficiency.
- Technology platform: Developing a greenfield digital platform to build the necessary foundations to develop products and propositions that will serve member needs of the future and exploit the opportunities created by emerging platform business models.
- Member experience and channel transformation: Continue to invest heavily in branches by creating a unique service experience on the High Street, integrating video, social media and face-to-face channels.
- Digitising the society: Improve the service experience and the cost efficiency in equal measure, delivering enhanced value for members.
- Data: Simplifying Nationwide’s data estate, including reducing current data stores from 20 to two. Also increasing investment in AI and machine learning to drive a step change in analytics and insight capabilities.
- Investing in people: Open a technology hub for Nationwide in the UK to support digital and data transformation, employing between 750 and 1,000 people over time.
In recent years, Nationwide has successfully completed a number of major technology changes. These have included:
- 2014: Integrating three separate acquired businesses (Derbyshire, Cheshire and Dunfermline building societies) and completing the account and systems migrations.
- 2014: Landing one of the largest re-platforming programmes in Europe, if not the world, by completing a SAP core banking implementation, successfully migrating around five million accounts.
- 2017: Simultaneously building digital distribution channels to become the second fastest growing digital banking provider in the UK, with over half of all new members and other product sales completed through our digital channels.
Tony Prestedge, Nationwide’s Deputy Chief Executive, said: “Nationwide is in an incredibly strong position, something we’ve achieved through understanding consumer needs and serving members on their terms. Testament to this is that we have over recent years realised record membership, customer service and financial strength and security.
“As a mutual we can afford to take a longer-term view rather than focus on short term gains. The pace of technological change means that we need to reassess continually how we serve our members in order to remain relevant, valued and competitive. We are therefore seizing this moment with confidence as we set ourselves up to succeed long into the future.”
About Nationwide
Nationwide is the world's largest building society as well as one of the largest savings providers and a top-three provider of mortgages in the UK. It is also a major provider of current accounts, credit cards, ISAs and personal loans. Nationwide has around 15 million customers.
Customers can manage their finances in a branch, via the mobile app, on the telephone, internet and post. The Society has around 18,000 employees. Nationwide's head office is in Swindon with administration centres based in Northampton, Bournemouth and Dunfermline. The Society also has a number of call centres across the UK.
