Virgin Money

Last updated

Virgin Money
Industry Financial services
Founded3 March 1995;29 years ago (1995-03-03) [1]
Founder Richard Branson
Area served
 Australia
United Kingdom
Services Finance
Banking
Mortgages
Owner Virgin Group and others
Website www.virginmoney.com

Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by two independent brand-licensees worldwide from the Virgin Group. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom. The brand formerly operated in South Africa and the United States.

Contents

Each Virgin Money branded entity acts independently from the others, thus the products vary from country to country.

Current brand licensees

Virgin Money Australia

Virgin Money currently has operations in Australia with 150,000 customers and is owned by Bank of Queensland.

Virgin Money UK

A former Northern Rock branch now in Virgin Money branding in Leeds. Virgin Money, Briggate, Leeds (6th April 2015).JPG
A former Northern Rock branch now in Virgin Money branding in Leeds.

Virgin Money currently has operations in the United Kingdom, the company was initially established as a personal finance company under the name of Virgin Direct in 1995, and the Virgin Money brand itself was introduced in 2000. Virgin Money vastly increased its size and customer base in 2012 with the purchase of the so-called 'good bank' portion of the nationalised Northern Rock bank.

In 2018, the entire UK operation of Virgin Money was sold to CYBG plc in a £1.7bn all-share deal which made the group the sixth-largest bank in the UK. [2] On 31 October 2019 CYBG plc changed its name to Virgin Money UK plc. [3]

On 7 March 2024 Nationwide Building Society, the UK's largest building society, announced that they had made an offer to buy Virgin Money UK plc for £2.9 billion. [4] Under the terms of the deal the resulting company would be rebranded under the Nationwide banner over the next 6 years with the Virgin Money brand eventually disappearing. [4] Nationwide intends to remain as a building society and for the "medium-term" the Virgin Money business would remain its own legal entity with its own banking licence. [4] Nationwide aims to not make any material changes to Virgin Money's 7,300 employees "in the near term". [4] Virgin Money's shareholders approved the deal on 21 March and it is expected to complete by the end of the year. [5]

Former brand licensees

Virgin Money South Africa

Virgin Money had operations in South Africa. In 2006, Virgin Money South Africa launched with a credit card initially in a partnership with ABSA worth $33 million. [6]

In August 2020, it was announced that the company would be rebranding to Spot Money. [7] [8]

Virgin Money US

In 2007, Virgin Money launched in the US after the Virgin Group made a majority stake investment in CircleLending, a company that facilitated peer-to-peer loans. [9] Virgin Money USA entered into dissolution on 1 November 2010, and is no longer listed as a Virgin property on the Virgin Money home page; the Virgin Money US site itself was also dismantled. [10] [11] [12] Virgin Money subsequently withdrew entirely from the US market [13] and its social lending servicing was transferred to its servicing partner, Graystone Solutions, which continues to service the social loans under its own brand.

Corporate identity

The current logo of Virgin Money's operations outside the UK Virgin Money logo.svg
The current logo of Virgin Money's operations outside the UK

Virgin Money's logo is focused around the main logo of Virgin Group, which is an underlined word 'Virgin' in a red and magenta gradient coloured circle. This logo was introduced in January 2012 to signify the purchase of Northern Rock, which used a magenta logo. Some versions of the logo use a plain red circle, such as the variant used frequently in South Africa.

Virgin Money's older logo was the word 'Virgin' in a red rounded skew rectangle, similar in shape to a credit card, followed by the word 'Money'. This logo remains in use in South Africa. The previous logo had used a red logo with the word 'Virgin' in a large circle and three smaller circles above the word 'Money'. Virgin Direct's logo had been a more simplistic rendering of the company name, in white on top of a red rectangle with a semicircle attached on the left side.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HSBC</span> British multinational bank group

HSBC Holdings plc, acronym from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets, ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clydesdale Bank</span> Commercial bank in Scotland

Clydesdale Bank is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Rock</span> Former British bank

Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in 1997, when it floated on the London Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol NRK.

Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual financial institution, the seventh largest cooperative financial institution and the largest building society in the world with over 16 million members. Its headquarters are in Swindon, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire Bank</span> Retail bank in the United Kingdom

Yorkshire Bank is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standard Bank</span> Bank in South Africa

Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absa Group</span> South African banking conglomerate

Absa Group Limited, commonly known simply as Absa and formerly the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) until 2005 and Barclays Africa Group Limited until 2018, is a multinational banking and financial services conglomerate based in Johannesburg, South Africa and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It offers personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management and bank assurances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clydesdale Bank plc</span> UK commercial bank

Clydesdale Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1838 and now trades as Virgin Money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Money UK</span> UK-based bank and financial services company

Virgin Money is a banking and financial services brand operating in the United Kingdom.

Investec is an Anglo-South African international banking and wealth management group. It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalisation of Northern Rock</span> Nationalisation of a UK bank in 2008

In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis. In 2010 the bank was split into two parts to aid the eventual sale of the bank back to the private sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Money US</span> Defunct loans company

Virgin Money US was a peer-to-peer loans and loan-servicing company which was for a short time part of Virgin Money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank and Clients</span> 1978–2021 British private bank

Bank and Clients plc was a British private bank, which was formed by combining: Church House Trust, a retail bank founded in 1978 and Ocean Capital, a specialist corporate lender founded in 2002. B&C was based in London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absa Bank Kenya</span>

Absa Bank Kenya Plc, formerly Barclays Bank Kenya Limited, is a commercial bank in Kenya and a subsidiary of South Africa-based Absa Group Limited. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TSB Bank (United Kingdom)</span> British retail bank

TSB Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been a subsidiary of Sabadell Group since 2015.

Virgin Money UK plc is a holding company that owns Clydesdale Bank plc, which in turn trades as Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money in the United Kingdom. It was formed as CYBG plc by National Australia Bank (NAB) in February 2016, in advance of the divestment of its UK business through a stock market flotation. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Australian Securities Exchange; it is also a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absa Bank Mauritius</span> Commercial bank in Mauritius

Absa Bank Mauritius Limited (ABML), formerly known as Barclays Bank Mauritius Limited, is a commercial bank in Mauritius, licensed by the Bank of Mauritius, the country's central bank and national banking regulator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absa Bank</span> Commercial bank in South Africa

Absa Bank Limited, formerly known as the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a commercial bank in South Africa and the flagship bank of Absa Group. It is licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, the central bank and national banking regulator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Absa Bank Ghana</span> Ghanaian commercial bank

Absa Bank Ghana (ABGL), formerly known as Barclays Bank of Ghana Limited, is a commercial bank in Ghana, licensed by the Bank of Ghana, the country's central bank and national banking regulator. ABGL is a subsidiary of Absa Group Limited, a financial services conglomerate, headquartered in South Africa, with subsidiaries in 12 African countries and with assets in excess of US$87 billion as of 30 June 2017. Absa Group's shares trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the symbol ABG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spot Money</span>

Spot Money SA (Pty) Ltd. is a South African mobile banking platform.

References

  1. ↑ "Case Studies Heat Virgin Direct" (PDF). Target Four. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012. 3rd March 1995, in partnership with Norwich Union, Virgin Direct launched with its first product
  2. ↑ "Virgin Money bought by CYBG for £1.7bn". BBC News. 18 June 2018.
  3. ↑ Atkin, Joanne (31 October 2019). "Virgin Money rebrand to start as CYBG acquisition completes". Mortgage Finance Gazette. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Nationwide strikes deal to buy Virgin Money for £2.9bn". BBC News. 7 March 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "Buying yon bonnie banks". BBC News. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Absa, Virgin in $33m venture – South Africa.info". Archived from the original on 20 April 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ "Richard Branson's Virgin Money is shutting down its SA credit card". BusinessInsider. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  8. ↑ Vermeulen, Jan. "Virgin Money South Africa is now Spot Money – A new open banking platform". MyBroadband. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "CircleLending Becomes Virgin Money USA; Gets Makeover and Millions in Funding". TechCrunch. 16 October 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "Virgin Money". Virgin Money. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  11. ↑ "Delaware Division of Corporations". State of Delaware. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  12. ↑ "Virgin Money US". Virgin Money US. 29 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  13. ↑ "Virgin Money Closes Shop in the U.S., Victim of Bad Timing". American Banker. 2 December 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.