Nationwide to merge with Derbyshire and Cheshire

by Gill Montia

Story link: Nationwide to merge with Derbyshire and Cheshire

Nationwide Building Society has confirmed that will merge with Derbyshire and Cheshire Building Societies.

Derbyshire operates from 50 branches across the Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire. It has around 500,000 members and total assets in excess of £7 billion.

Macclesfield-based Cheshire has 45 branches plus 13 estate agencies. Its membership is lower than Derbyshire’s at 400,000 and assets are slightly less than £5 billion.

By comparison, Nationwide has 900 branches and 14 million members.

Both Derbyshire and Cheshire have been feeling the impact of the credit crisis and housing market downturn, with profits declining during 2007.

However, Nationwide has not faced some of the difficulties experienced by its smaller rivals because retail deposits have been particularly high, with savers flocking to the UK’s biggest building society as a safe haven since the collapse of Northern Rock.

When the Nationwide merged with the Portman last August, Portman members received payments of up to £1,000 but it is understood Derbyshire and Cheshire will not receive windfall payments.