Nationwide to cut 600 jobs in first redundancies after takeover of Virgin Money

Nationwide building society is axing 600 jobs in the first major round of cuts linked to its controversial takeover of the high street bank Virgin Money . The move affects both Nationwide and Virgin Money staff, whose roles are due to be duplicated once the lenders’ operations are fully merged. Virgin Money formally became a part of Nationwide this spring after a £2.9bn takeover. The building society has remained tight-lipped about the potential impact for workers since the deal was first announced in 2024. The cuts are understood to be aimed at back-office staff, rather than customer-facing jobs, which include staff working at the near 700 branches that the bank has pledged to keep open until at least 2030. The building society, which employs about 25,000 staff, is now in the process of a weeks-long consultation over the job cuts involving the Nationwide Group staff union and Unite, which represents Virgin Money bank staff. The group, which is headquartered at a sprawling campus in Swindon, revealed the plans to colleagues last week. Nationwide said it “is now the UK’s fastest-growing banking provider, continuing to attract more customers and expand into new areas such as business banking. “As we integrate Virgin Money, we are making some modest changes in areas where activities overlap. …