Strong franchise in residential mortgages and retail savings. Sound funding and liquidity profiles. Robust capital ratios, but no equity market access. High systemic importance in the U.K. Concentrated exposure to the leveraged U.K. household sector. Elevated impairment losses due to the weak U.K. economy and property markets. Moderate pre-provision earnings, reflecting mutual pricing policy. Nationwide Building Society is by far the largest U.K. building society and one of the leading providers of retail financial services. It ranks No. 2 by market share in liquid household savings and No. 3 in residential mortgages. As such, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services classifies Nationwide as a highly systemically important institution in the U.K. We consider that it is unlikely to require extraordinary external
