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Below are the key milestones, year by year, in the history of Virgin Money. We've started at the top with the big events so far this year, but if you'd rather begin at the beginning, simply scroll down to 1995 - the year Virgin launched into financial services.
| March |  'What Investment' magazine awards the Climate Change Fund 4 stars and ‘Product of the Month’ for March 2008. | |
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| February |  Following phenomenal uptake of the Virgin Credit Card, a major national campaign is launched, with key sites on the London Underground and roadside posters. | |
| February |  At last customers can focus on performance and feel good about their investment too. The Virgin Climate Change Fund invests in companies who are driving outstanding growth and who are environmental leaders in their field. |
| July |  Virgin Money scoops another three gongs at the Your Money Direct Awards 2007 - for Best Online Credit Card Provider, Best Pet Insurance Provider and Best Motor Insurance Provider. |
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| April | Virgin No.1 in the charts! Virgin Money are named Britains fastest growing private company in the influential Sunday Times annual Profit Track 100 report. |
| January | New Year campaign on TV Big new unified advertising campaign launched, covering all Virgin Money products. Featuring 3 American office workers in a lift discussing life's savvier financial decisions. UK wide coverage on TV, radio, press, posters and internet. |
| October |  Virgin Credit Card customers can now gain instant benefits with offers from Virgin Holidays, Virgin Megastores, Virgin Wines, Virgin Active and Virgin Money. The discounts and offers are available at the point of sale to anyone using their Virgin Credit Card. Check out What's hot for more info. |
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| October |  ‘Nutters with putters’ took the English South Coast by storm on 28h & 29 October, as Hastings played host to the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. Over 100 competitors from as far afield as India and Tibet competed for a share of the £3,000 prize money. |
| September |  Virgin Money was awarded Money Management magazine's 2006 Five Star Award for pension performance on regular contributions. The award is given for achieving above average performance combined with reasonable charges. |
| July |  By tackling a taboo area without euphemism or evasion, Virgin Money's Cancer Cover is a groundbreaker and has merited a rare Publisher's Special Award from Luke Broadhurst, publishing director of Your Money. |
| June | Sir Richard Branson launches the Virgin Money Credit Card in South Africa |
| January |  We relaunch Virgin Life Cover with terminal illness cover included and our lowest premiums ever. 1st in the UK with Virgin Cancer Cover We take on the big ‘C’ with the ground-breaking big ‘V’ – Virgin Cancer Cover – teaming up with our charity partners Everyman. |
| December |  A national campaign starring Nick Jones as a man whose life gets more interesting when he says ‘yes’. |
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| August | Guaranteed Equity Bond launched A stonking offer of 130% of any growth in the FTSE 100 or your money back. |
| January |  'Don't punish yourself' is the theme as Virgin Money don't charge customers extra for paying monthly.  |
| November | Virgin Money wins the Interactive Marketing and Advertising award for Best Finance Advertising |
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| May | Virgin launches Car, Home, Travel and Pet insurance "There's nothing we love more at Virgin than improving the customer's lot. With our new insurance products, not only will they save money on their premiums, but they won't get charged for paying monthly either", says Richard Branson. |
| April | Richard Branson takes 100% ownership of Virgin Money As a signal of our ambition and Richard's belief in the company, he invests £90 million to buy out our other 50% shareholder, bringing full ownership of Virgin Money into the Virgin fold. |
| September | Virgin Money welcome our millionth customer worldwide! |
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| May |  Launch of the Virgin Credit Card in Australia begins our plans to roll out our successful UK model around the world. The ‘Oz’ card with its radical new clipped corner, bright colour range, low interest rates and ‘mates’ rewards, is a big hit with Oz customers who’ve been getting a raw credit card deal from their banks for years. |
| January | 200,000 credit card customers reached |
| July | Virgin Money grabs more awards Virgin win 'Best Pension Provider' at both The Guardian and Your Money Awards. |
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| June | The Virgin Credit Card becomes an industry 'Best Buy' "The Virgin Card is a regular feature in the best buy tables". Moneyfacts |
| May | Virgin launches personal loan |
| February | Virgin Direct and virginmoney.com merge to become Virgin Money |
| January |  "UK customers have long been made to feel grateful just to be offered a credit card by their bank and it's high time people were given a better deal." Richard Branson |
| June | virginlifeinsurance.com launched Virgin shines at the Guardian Consumer Finance awards |
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| April | Stakeholder pension launched Virgin is the only company in the UK to get the green light to automatically turn our existing pension into a Stakeholder, because it already meets all the standards. |
| June | virginmoney.com launched Virgin judged Call Centre of the Year for third year running |
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| May | Virgin enters the workplace Our Group Personal Pension is the blueprint for the Government's Stakeholder launch in 2001. |
| April | More gongs at the Your Money Direct awards Your Money Direct voted us 'Best direct ISA and pension provider', as well as 'Best Internet life insurance provider'. |
| March | On our fifth birthday we reach 1/3 million customers, insuring peoples lives to the tume of £2 billion. |
| January | Virgin calls on FSA to beef up risk wordings in the small print Two years later the Government sponsored 'Sandler Review of long-term saving' is released, reaching the same conclusion. |
| September | Service excellence recognised Virgin wins prestigious Management Today/Unisys Service Excellence Award. |
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| April | Virgin launches a range of ISAs championing CAT standards |
| January | Branson's guide to PEPs, TESSAs and ISAs To help consumers through the ISA minefield. Virgin launches 'Branson's guide to PEPs, TESSAs and ISAs'. |
| December | Virgin leads the way on pensions We welcome government plans to 'benchmark' pensions, paving the way for Stakeholder. |
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| November | Virgin launches deposit account |
| September | Virgin fights for standards Virgin (and 10,000 of our customers) lobby parliament to get high standards 'kitemarked'. |
| June | Call Centre of the Year Awarded by BPS Teleperformance. Based on 54,000 mystery shop calls to 2,000 companies; |
| October | Virgin launches the revolutionary One account |
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| August | Virgin hits £1 billion funds under management and 200,000 investors |
| May | Virgin's pension pack wins top award from the Plain Language Commission |
| February | Virgin lobbies Government Virgin is the first company to pledge not to ask life insurance applicants for the results of any genetic tests. After a four year campaign by Virgin the Government force other companies to do likewise. |
| November | Richard puts a rocket up the pension industry The Virgin Personal Pension is launched, years ahead of its time, challenging the cost and complexity of the average pension, which has five or more different charges. |
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| May | Virgin launches life insurance |
| February | Virgin Direct's first TV advert The opening scene shows a mystery man getting out of his car clutching a bundle of papers. In true Roger Cook fashion, the voice-over explains how last year this man convinced 30,000 people to part with their cash, promising to help them avoid the taxman while taking no commission himself. In the final frame the camera reveals that the culprit is in fact... Richard Branson. |
| October | Income PEP launched Virgin launches the cheapest income PEP on the market and challenges everyone to match our high standards. |
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| April | £42m invested in first month |
| March |  Virgin pioneers index tracking by launching the best value PEP in the market. Over 4,000 calls received on opening day. |
