OUR MUTUAL FRIEND

AROUND five million people will this week effectively decide the future of the building society movement.

If they vote "No" to the Nationwide becoming a bank, Britain's other mutual organisations will let out a huge sigh of collective relief.

But if customers vote "Yes", Nationwide are likely to disappear from our streets, swallowed by power-hungry institutions wanting to cross-sell to customers and find more ways to increase their swollen profits. The Prudential and Lloyds TSB group are said to be waiting to pounce.

Nationwide's chief Brian Davis is keen for members to vote for mutuality. He said: "As a building society, our only aim is to provide long-term value that will benefit members year after year and cater for their life-long financial needs. We don't have pressure to make short-term profits out of our customers to maximise returns for outside shareholders. Those looking for a windfall need to be clear that this important advantage would disappear if they had their way."

He says Nationwide can continue to provide a real alternative to banks - and the figures back him.

Over the past two years, a family with a pounds 60,000 interest- only mortgage and pounds 5,000 in an instant access account would have been better off at Nationwide than at any major former building society which has converted.

They would have been out of pocket to the tune of pounds 460 by having their accounts at the Halifax, pounds 487 at Abbey National, pounds 565 at the Woolwich and pounds 582 at the Alliance & Leicester.

The temptation to vote for windfalls of around pounds 1,000 are obvious. It's people's basic greed that the pro-converters hope to tap into. They are led by butler Michael Hardern, who last year was beaten by a vote of 3-1 in favour of mutuality. This year voting is expected to be much closer.

The result of the vote will be announced on Thursday when we will know the fate of the world's biggest building society.

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