£50m for Nationwide

NAtIONWIDe has won a £50m grant by Banking Competition remedies (BCr), which is distributing £775m to lenders.

the building society will look to boost online banking services for small firms, and attract another 340,000 customers. Grants of £15m were given to Investec and the Co-op Bank.

the scheme is funded by rBS, which was ordered to improve competition as a condition of its taxpayer bailout in 2008. But awards have been heavily criticised after £120m was given to Metro Bank in february.

Metro shares have crashed and it faces questions over its credibility due to an accounting erro, with BCr under pressure to take the money back.