Nationwide nearly doubles CEO’s pay packet to £4.7m despite bonus row

Nationwide Building Society has nearly doubled the pay packet of its chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, a year after the board pushed through a controversial bonus scheme for its top boss. The mutual, which is owned by its members, released its annual report on Monday, showing Crosbie was handed £3.2m in bonuses – a combination of payouts for annual and longer-term performance – up from £1.1m a year earlier.It pushed her overall pay packet to £4.7m for the year to March 2026, marking an 88% jump on the near-£2.5m she earned for the previous year.Meanwhile, eligible staff within the wider 26,890-strong workforce will see their pay rise by an average of 3.8% from 1 July. “These changes reflect a significant investment in our people, recognising the contribution and commitment of those at the heart of serving our customers and delivering our strategy,” Nationwide said. Crosbie’s £1.2m annual salary was increased a further 2.9% in April this year.The chief executive’s pay rise follows an overhaul of Nationwide’s executive bonus scheme. It increased Crosbie’s maximum pay package by 43%, allowing her to earn up to £7m if all criteria were met. The board said the rise was justified given Crosbie was now in charge of a much larger lender after its takeover of the high street bank Virgin Money.However, the building society failed to give its members a binding vote on the pay rise at the 2025 annual general meeting, and refused to give them a vote on the £2.9bn acquisition of Virgin Money. It has led critics to raise concerns over governance at Nationwide, amid fears it is letting its democratic values slip.Andrew Speke, the interim director of the High Pay Centre thinktank, said: “Nationwide is now paying its CEO levels comparable to other high-street bank lenders, despite being a building society and not offering members a binding vote on the pay package. This dramatic increase in CEO pay, combined with the absence of a binding member vote on remuneration, is clearly not in accordance with the principles of fairness and democratic governance that building societies are supposed to uphold.”Nationwide is asking its members to give their approval for Crosbie’s latest pay package in an advisory vote at its 15 July annual general meeting (AGM). Her bonuses added to a salary worth £1.2m, topped up by a £193,000 pension and £50,000 worth of taxable benefits including business travel, medical insurance, a car allowance and personal security.Commenting on the chief executive’s latest pay package, the Nationwide chair, Kevin Parry, said in a statement: “Debbie Crosbie’s pay has increased because it includes a long-term bonus for the first time, reflecting the society’s outstanding performance and development over the last three years.“In that period, Nationwide has paid out more to members than at any time in its history, our customer satisfaction lead has doubled, and we now have the largest branch network in the country. Because of this, we have been able to quadruple member value and attract, retain and motivate talented people to work at Nationwide.”Last month, Nationwide announced it was handing a further £440m worth of £100 payments to members, marking the fourth year in a row that it has doled out returns to customers.But Nationwide has not appeased all of its members, and is in a showdown with a customer who is vying to get on to the building society’s board at its July AGM.Last week, Nationwide bosses confirmed they would not be recommending that the customer, James-Sherwin Smith, be elected to the board, saying his “election would not be in the best interests of the society” owing to an alleged lack of necessary experience. Nationwide has 17 million members and more than £377bn in assets.Nationwide has also blocked Sherwin-Smith from making changes to election materials to try to inform members they should avoid using the quick vote option – which automatically backs all board-level recommendations – before the AGM.