Nation-wide Building Society, one of Britain's biggest home-loan leaders, said on Sunday that it was in advanced talks over proposed mergers with both the Derbyshire and the Cheshire Building Societies.
The Nation-wide, Britain's largest building society, has 179 billion pounds ($314.8 billion) of assets and around 900 branches. Thus compares with the Derbyshire with 7.1 billion pounds of assets and 50 branches, and the Cheshire with 5 billion pounds of assets and 45 branches.
The move if successful would combine Nationwide's leading position in the building society market with the Derbyshire which is the ninth largest and Cheshire the eleventh.
"The board of Nation-wide Building Society can confirm that it is in advanced discussions with The Derbyshire and The Cheshire Building Societies over the terms of independent and proposed mergers," the Nation-wide said in a statement.