The news: Nationwide gained 65,000 current account customers in Q1 2026—more than three times as many as Barclays and over five times Lloyds, per MoneyWeek. This follows the building society’s November 2025 "Branch Promise" not to close any of its nearly 700 branches until 2030 at the earliest. CEO Debbie Crosbie said Nationwide is also considering opening new branches in select locations.

Zooming out: Nationwide is finding success with its branch network strategy. In May, it reported a 20% jump in account openings tied to in-branch visits in the trailing year. 

This comes even as UK in-branch banking users industrywide are set to fall nearly 20% between 2025 and 2029, per our forecast. Nationwide's shareholder-owned rivals keep shrinking their branch networks accordingly:

• Barclays plans to close 166 branches in 2026 and 2027, per Moneyweek.
• Lloyds has closed 397 branches since March 2022, per Moneyweek.

Nationwide's current account growth may also stem from its mutual structure—comparable to a US credit union—which allows it to return profits directly to members rather than shareholders, allowing it to fund loyalty payments like its £100 ($134) "Fairer Share" bonus. It most recently paid the bonus to more than 4 million customers in June, the fourth consecutive year it has done so. Those payments reinforce Nationwide's value proposition and give consumers another tangible reason to switch or stay beyond rates and products.

Why it matters: UK financial institutions are reevaluating branches’ role in acquisition and retention, even despite declining visits. Other building societies are following Nationwide’s lead: Cumberland Building Society pledged in July to keep all 31 of its branches open, and Newcastle Building Society has invested more than £12 million ($16.05 million) in its branch network since 2015. Among shareholder-owned banks, Santander pledged not to close any of its 480 branches before 2028, and HSBC promised the same through at least 2027. 

Implications for banks: Nationwide's current account gains suggest that both branch access and tangible financial rewards are significant competitive differentiators. The latter gives building societies with mutual structures an inherent edge that digital and shareholder-owned competitors cannot easily replicate.

On the branch front, banks that have leaned hardest into closures may need to compete more aggressively on pricing, service, or digital features to offset the loss of physical access.

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