Welcome to this September newsletter from the Customer Union for Ethical Banking, the independent union for customers of The Co-operative Bank and Coventry Building Society.
We hope you enjoyed your summer.
Save the date for our Gathering
We’re starting to plan for our annual Gathering, which this year will be held on the afternoon of Saturday 22nd November. Do save the date, and we’ll be back with a registration link and an agenda in our next newsletter. We'll be discussing the progress of the merger, and will be joined by a representative from the bank who can answer questions from members and supporters.
Notes from our meeting with the bank
We met with representatives from the Co-op Bank towards the end of August, as part of our recognition agreement as a union of bank customers. We brought questions and concerns we had heard from you, and heard updates from the bank on its values, ethics and customer service. The bank shared that integration with Coventry is progressing well, and had a lot of positive news to report:
It is improving on customer service, it is answering calls quicker than ever, and its TrustPilot score is now up to 4.5, the highest for a high street bank. In Martin Lewis’ latest poll of banks on customer service, the bank had risen from 13th to 6th. It also has a positive net switching score, meaning it’s gaining more current account customers than it’s losing.
Coventry Building Society and the Bank together signed an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, led by Friends of the Earth, calling for a bold and fair climate plan. It was one of the biggest business signatories.
In Manchester, the Co-op Bank helped support the Our House initiative, a pilot project aiming to support halls-of-residence style accommodation for young people in apprenticeships.
The bank also sponsored Manchester Pride again this August.
Your questions, our questions
In terms of the questions we had for the bank – mostly from questions that supporters like you have sent in:
We asked the bank why two-factor authentication needs a mobile phone number. We’d like the bank to allow people to use a land line if they prefer. In a follow up we also asked why they didn't provide an email option any more. The bank said:
The Bank recently improved our Card Online 2FA transaction authorisation to remove the need for a password, which was the biggest customer pain-point. We still require an SMS to be sent to a UK mobile number, and in very limited circumstances an email address. Digital 2FA requires a UK mobile number for SMS.
At present we have no plans to offer 2FA via landline however are exploring how we can use our mobile banking apps for payment (and online) authentication.
We will continue to press the bank on a landline option.
We asked the bank about its Open Banking interface for business accounts. This allows accounts packages to get up-to-date data from the bank - a vital time-saver for many sole traders and small businesses. Members have told us that accounts packages they use don't work with the bank. The bank told us they already integrate with Xero and Quickbooks.
In answer to a follow-up question, they confirmed that their interface does conform to the OBIE open banking standard. We don't understand why that still leaves some popular accounts systems without a link - we’ll be following up on why that might be.
We want to see a clear announcement from the group about whether and when the bank’s ethical policy will be extended to Coventry Building Society. We asked the bank when we could expect this, and were told they are still looking into it.
We asked if the bank is still supporting the Zero Hour campaign for a strong Climate and Nature Bill, and were told this is something they are still active on, including supporting a parliamentary event in September.
As ever, if you have questions you’d like us to raise with the bank in our next meeting, let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
Getting customer unions into more businesses
As part of a wider project looking to challenge corporate power, Ethical Consumer (long-term partner of the Customer Union) is exploring the idea of campaigning for “other stakeholders to sit alongside shareholders on corporate boards everywhere”. This is building on its experience with the Customer Union for Ethical Banking, but also includes projects looking at representation for workers and the environment. It is running a crowdfunder asking for support for this work which may appeal to some of the Customer Union’s own members and supporters. The crowdfunder opens on September 19th and closes on November 1st.
Save Our Bank = Customer Union
With the Co-operative Bank back in mutual ownership we've retired the Save Our Bank name - in use since we started the campaign in 2013.
Our website is now at: https://customerunion.coop
You can email us at: [email protected]
(The old email and website addresses still work).
On Bluesky? Follow us there!
Tag us with your Co-op Bank related views and questions on BlueSky – @customerunion.bsky.social.
That’s all for this month’s newsletter; thank you as ever for reading and supporting the Union.
With best wishes,
The Customer Union team
Have you joined the Customer Union yet? It costs £15 a year to be a member of the first ever customer union co-operative, and help us ensure the Co-op Bank sticks to its principles. We also welcome Coventry Building Society members. It only takes a few moments to sign up here.
