The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the expected merger of Nationwide and Virgin Money, saying it “does not give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition”.
The CMA opened a probe into the proposed Nationwide and Virgin Money merger in May this year to see if there would be lessened competition in owner-occupied and buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages and credit cards, after Nationwide agreed a £2.9bn merger with Virgin Money in March.
The merged group would have assets worth around £336.3bn and lending of around £283.5bn.
On the owner-occupied side, the CMA said that the merged entity would be “relatively small in scale” in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The report added that although Nationwide was a “strong provider” in the space, other providers “compete more closely with Nationwide than Virgin Money does”, such as Lloyds and NatWest, and “would exert a sufficient competitive constraint on the merged entity”.
On the BTL side, the report stated that the merged entity would be the largest supplier of BTL mortgages according to some measures, but it would have a share of the market of below 30% in all segments.
The CMA added that Virgin Money is “relatively small” and other providers compete more closely with Nationwide than Virgin Money does, and again this would “exert a sufficient competitive constraint”.
Regarding credit cards, the CMA said that while Virgin Money was a “relatively larger provider”, the share of supply was below 30%.
It added that Nationwide is “small and only provides credit cards to existing customers”, and other competitors would “exert a sufficient competitive constraint on the merged entity”.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
