Nationwide Building Society has completed its first-ever group-wide panel, with five City firms making its approved roster.

Allen & Overy (A&O) is the only magic circle firm to have been appointed to the roster, joining Eversheds, Burges Salmon, Olswang and Nabarro on the panel.

The building society launched the review at the end of last year under general counsel Liz Kelly, and made its final decision in May after shortlisting a handful of firms.

Firms were told of their appointment earlier this month and met with the building society at A&O's London headquarters on 13 July to discuss expectations and objectives for the year.

Nationwide already operated a handful of sub-panels, including commercial property, commercial lending and lending control, which were not reviewed as part of the tender.

Kelly said: "Like many in-house teams we had to realign ourselves with the business to ensure that we could continue to provide high quality and relevant advice. We took a risk-based approach to determine what to retain in-house and what would be supported by external firms so that the in-house function could concentrate on more significant work where we can add the greatest value."

The completed UK panel is the first since Nationwide took over parts of stricken building society Dunfermline in March. That deal generated roles for a raft of firms, with A&O taking the lead role for longstanding client Nationwide, fielding a team under partner Alistair Asher.

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