BRITAIN'S biggest building society, Nationwide, has confirmed it is in "advanced discussions" to acquire two smaller rivals.
The lender, which boasts a loans portfolio of about £104 billion, said it was in talks over possible mergers with both the Derbyshire and the Cheshire Building Societies.
The Derbyshire has 50 branches, 500,000 members and £7bn of assets, while th
e Cheshire has about 450,000 members.
The latest mergers would follow Nationwide's takeover of Portman Building Society in August last year, which made it the second largest residential mortgage lender in the UK behind Halifax.
Reports over the weekend claimed that Nationwide was in talks with the Derbyshire and was also having early-stage discussion with one other, unnamed, smaller institution. But Nationwide revealed in a statement yesterday morning that talks with both lenders were at an advanced stage.
It said: "Further to coverage in today's media, the board of Nationwide Building Society can confirm that it is in advanced discussions with the Derbyshire and the Cheshire Building Societies over the terms of independent and proposed mergers."
It is understood that the talks with Derbyshire were instigated by the Derby-based building society's chief executive, Graham Picken, at the beginning of the summer, when the deterioration in the credit markets prompted him to look to join forces with a bigger institution to ensure the security of his members' savings.
The full article contains 235 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
