If you are a member of Nationwide you will be getting your 2011 AGM voting papers shortly.
There isn't any real choice of course, as a mere "member" of a socialist era "mutual" you won't find any outsiders standing as directors or any who have a particular platform. All you can really do is vote against everything on principle, especially the chief executive's pay package.
He, a chartered accountant by the name of Beale, has worked in the Nationwide since very early in his career. He is committed to the mutual model. Why not, it rewards him very generously at £1,884,000pa. £441,000 of that is for "performance pay". In that case, one wonders what the the basic £1,443,000 is for. Turning up at work on time with a clean shirt? Putting in a mediocre effort?
The truth seems to be that the writing is on the wall for Nationwide. It is shrinking its loan book because it can't get access to capital. Yet they still waste money on sport sponsorship. Maybe Mr. Beale only likes to mix with people as well paid as he is. And they could ditch the "feel good" charities, too. If they paid me some decent interest maybe I could afford to slip the occasional tanner in a collection box. (For the younger generation that is a reference to a small coin, not a leather worker

)
Is the dead fish beginning to stink from the head down? It might be worth going to the AGM to have a sniff around.
