Meet Abdul

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Abdul, Chief Manager, Specialised Support

Joining Nationwide was an easy decision for me. The Group was no.1 in the Times ‘Best Companies to Work For’, it had a highly respected graduate training programme and I was keen to work in financial services. I’ve been here now since 2005 and at the moment I manage a team of debt restructure specialists. That involves working with customers whose underlying business plan has changed. Often we need to revise their business plan and associated financing arrangements, and reorganise the debt. It means taking part in senior team meetings as well as control and oversight forums.

For me, meeting customers and working with them to resolve some difficult situations is the best part of the job. But what also makes my work rewarding are Nationwide’s values and mutual status. These set us apart from our competitors as they shift our emphasis firmly towards relationships. That includes the relationships we have with colleagues as well as with customers and members. Nationwide Commercial is a specialised business area and it’s the strength of our relationships that’s the single defining feature of our resilient performance in this tough economy.

I’ve worked with some great teams and business leaders while I’ve been here and that’s helped give me a broad set of skills ranging from technical deal structuring to strategy and leadership. The training and development infrastructure within Nationwide is deep and rich and it’s easy to see how much commitment there is for personal and professional development.

I’m currently studying and making good progress towards a professional qualification that complements my technical and professional development. And as well as something called the Development Curve – available to everyone in the Group – Commercial Division has the I-Learn platform. This is a training guide and resource bank geared towards specialised training for commercial lending and support functions. Our newly launched Commercial Academy also develops a spectrum of strategic and leadership skills – which this year helped develop the Divisional business plan.

On top of all that there are opportunities to take on responsibility and get involved in change everywhere you turn. And even though we’re always focused on excellent customer service and achieving our corporate objectives, it’s a fun place to work with plenty of charity events to support and team activities to get involved in.