Welcome to this April newsletter from the Customer Union for Ethical Banking, the independent union for customers of The Co-operative Bank. This month, we review the Co-op Bank’s Sustainability Report in depth. Plus rumoured deals between investors on bank shares.
The Co-operative Bank informed us (on Monday 21 December 2020), that the discussions around a potential bid for the bank have ended.
This article was published with our July 2020 newsletter, and forms the first part of a review of the Customer Union’s second aim, to work for an eventual return of the Co-op Bank to full co-operative ownership.
Since then the ownership has changed. You can see an updated version here.
In this first part we look into who owns the bank now.
The Cooperative Bank has been named Current Account Provider of the year in the Moneyfacts awards 2020.
Lee Tillcock, Editor of Moneyfacts said "By continuing to provide support via a straightforward and reasonable agreed overdraft rate and a leading rewards bonus, the Co-operative Bank is the deserved winner of the Best Current Account Provider category at the 2020 Moneyfacts Awards."
The Cooperative Bank has announced Q1 2020 trading results.
we are providing payment holidays for approximately 17,000 mortgage, loans and credit card customers to date
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We hope you are keeping well, staying healthy and coping with life under lockdown during this Coronavirus crisis. For us it has created some additional pressures on our time, with the result that this newsletter reaches you after a longer gap than usual, but other than that we are carrying on with our work.
Earlier this year we asked members of the Customer Union (and Save Our Bank supporters) to send in questions that they'd like us to ask the Co-operative Bank at our regular meeting with them in March. Since we met the bank, the COVID-19 crisis has significantly worsened and this has prompted some further dialogue with the bank.
We assembled - and in some cases amalgamated - a list of questions from members before presenting them to the bank for initial discussion. The bank then went away to consider a more detailed response, and there was a further dialogue.
CEO of the Co-operative Bank, Andrew Bester, has issued a message addressed to all customers.
The message, which you can view here, makes it clear that the Bank will stand behind customers, explains that the bank is getting a lot of calls, and warns about scams.
The Co-operative Bank has signed up to a code that sets standards to detect and prevent Authorised Push Payment (APP) Scams. It includes a commitment to reimburse customers who lose money through no fault of their own.
This means the Co-op now joins 7 other banks signed up to the 'Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code' and is the first payment service provider to sign up since its launch in May.
The Co-op Bank has entered into a new partnership with Amnesty International UK to train human rights activists.
