Nationwide boss Crosbie doubles her pay to £4.7m after leading Virgin Money mega merger

The boss of Nationwide was paid almost £5million last year after leading a merger with Virgin Money.

Debbie Crosbie topped up her £1.2million annual salary with extras including a £1.8million bonus and £1.5million in long-term awards. 

Her pay rose to £4.7million – nearly double the £2.5million she was awarded the year before – fuelling concerns about banker-style earnings at the mutual.

Crosbie, 56, has taken home just over £13million since she became chief executive of Britain’s biggest building society, which is owned by its 16m members, in June 2022.

Nationwide chairman Kevin Parry said that the building society has ‘paid out more to members than at any time in its history’ under Crosbie’s leadership.

Last month, it announced another £100 profit-sharing bonus for each of its more than 4m eligible members under its Fairer Share scheme. 

It has made such payments for four years running and says it has paid out over £1.5billion in total.

Andrew Speke of the High Pay Centre 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.’

Crosbie oversaw the £2.9billion takeover of Virgin Money, which completed in April after being first announced in 2024.