Working with Nationwide

Nationwide and our suppliers must demonstrate to our customers that we are working together responsibly and efficiently to minimise risk across our supply chain. Our suite of policies and tools, detailed on this webpage, help us to do this.

We created our Third Party Code of Practice (PDF, 290KB opens in a new window) to support our commitment to responsible business practices. This sets out the environmental and social standards we expect our suppliers to uphold.

Prospective suppliers are asked to agree to comply with the Code as part of onboarding and controls tests to check conformance are conducted on a priority set as part of supplier management.

We use the supplier sustainability ratings tool EcoVadis (opens in a new window) to monitor performance across environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement themes. EcoVadis provides an evidence-based assessment of a supplier’s sustainability policies, actions, and results. The questions asked are dependent on company size, sector, and location and supporting documentation is required to evidence answers.

The output of the questionnaire is summarised in a scorecard, which highlights a supplier’s strengths and improvement areas. Suppliers can share their scorecard and sustainability metrics with all requesting partners, of which there are over 1,200 globally. Useful resources and guidance are also available on the EcoVadis platform, so suppliers can access support to implement their improvement areas, promoting continuous improvement in sustainability management. There is also a medal system which helps suppliers promote their stronger sustainability performance.

When suppliers apply to provide services to Nationwide, they are asked to comply with our Supplier Policies. The policies provide an overview of what we expect from our suppliers, to address the key areas of risk that Nationwide is exposed to through its supplier relationships.

The relevant requirements are shared with prospective suppliers during the tender process and align to our contractual agreements. Nationwide conducts regular control tests, to check adherence to the expectations outlined in the policies.

We are a member of the Financial Services Qualification System (FSQS) provided by a company called Hellios Information Ltd.

Suppliers bidding for new business, or extending existing relationships with us, are required to complete the FSQS questionnaire to support their submission.

FSQS works on the principle of a community. Financial institutions who are members of FSQS work together to agree a standard set of questions, which can be used to collect and maintain information on a supplier’s policies and controls. Suppliers complete the questions online and this information, but not the specifics of the Nationwide product or service, will then be made available to other financial institutions who are members of the FSQS community.

Suppliers providing services to more than one financial institution will only need to provide their information once in the FSQS portal, rather than separately to each individual organisation. Where possible, we will use existing FSQS data already provided by the supplier in the system. Suppliers must review their FSQS information each year, to maintain accurate information in the system.