ONE of Swindon's biggest employers will soon be axing hundreds of jobs.

Nationwide Building Society has confirmed to the Adver around 450 employees will be made redundant as the company "streamlines" certain parts of its workforce.

A spokesman said: “We continually review our office estate to ensure it best meets the needs of our colleagues and members.

“Our strategy is to give members greater value, better products and a distinctive customer experience.

"To do this, our systems and operations must be best-in-class and we need to be more agile and efficient.

"We are streamlining some of our central, non-member facing teams which will enable us to increase investment in the value and service we provide our members.

"We have worked hard to keep the number of affected colleagues to a minimum and expect around 450 to leave the society.  

"We are ensuring we provide the right support for those affected.”

It is understood that the jobs will cut across across the company, not just at the Swindon HQ.

Nationwide employs around 18,000 staff across the country and 6,500 solely at its Pipers Way headquarters. Debbie Crosby became its new CEO in June 2022.

The building society's latest available financial results from November showed its underlying profit went from £850 million in the first half of 2021 to £980m in the first half of 2022 as income grew, and the net interest margin improved to 1.48 per cent.

The half-year results for 2022 show that member financial benefit more than doubled to £320m as the mutual aimed to pay savers the best rates it can afford.

In recent months, the average deposit rate has been at least 70 per cent higher than the market average.

Net mortgage lending stood at £5.4bn, with a stock market share of 12.4 per cent, while Nationwide maintained its top marks for customer satisfaction among its peer group which it has held for more than 10 years.

While investigating tip-offs about the incoming redundancies, the Adver also heard rumours of the Pipers Way head office possibly being closed in the near future.

Nationwide's spokesman added: "We haven’t made any decisions to close offices in Swindon.”

Nationwide moved its head office to Pipers Way in 1992 where it had previously held a computer and administrative office since 1974.

Have you or somebody you know been affected by the news? Email daniel.angelini@newsquest.co.uk