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Nationwide’s profits tumble 21% on tech spend

daniellelevy
Written By:
daniellelevy
Posted:
Updated:
08/02/2019

Building society Nationwide saw profits dip over the nine months to the end of December after writedown and technology costs took their toll.

The high street lender said statutory profit over the nine months to the end of December 2018 had fallen by 21% to £703m. This accounted for writedowns and technology spend, which totalled £167m over the period.

“This investment is to ensure we can continue to meet our members’ changing needs in an increasingly digital future. At the same time, consistent with member feedback, we remain committed to and are investing in our presence on the high street,” explained Nationwide’s chief executive Joe Garner.

Back in September, Nationwide announced it would spend an additional £1.3bn on technology in a bid to become the UK’s biggest building society.

Over the nine-month period, new lending rose to £6.1bn, representing a 50% increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, deposit balances rose by £5.9bn, up from £2.3bn over the same period of the building society’s previous financial year.

Nationwide noted that more than one in five current account switchers chose Nationwide over the period, which contributed to a 5% rise in current accounts to 7.7m.