Coventry Building Society completes purchase of The Co-operative Bank

Twin poster campaignOn 2nd January the Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank jointly announced the completion of the merger. As a result, the Co-op Bank is now a subsidiary of Coventry Building Society, and has been brought back under mutual ownership. Read the bank’s media release here.

According to the FT, the merged organisation will now have assets of around £89bn and around four and a half million members and customers across the country. Coventry’s CEO, Steve Hughes, announced the “monumental” news in a LinkedIn video, setting out what this will mean for customers of both organisations.

The completion of this merger also represents the achievement of one of our main goals as a union of Co-op Bank customers: to work for an eventual return of the bank to Co-operative Ownership.

We discussed the merger with our supporters members in our Gathering and newsletters, and the widespread support for this outcome is clear. However we also consider that we still have work to do. We have accordingly adapted our mission.

Now the Customer Union will aim to:

  • Ensure that the Co-operative Bank’s powerful customer-led ethical stance is maintained and extended across the merged business,
  • Work with Coventry Building Society (including the Co-operative Bank) to engage fully within the cooperative and mutual sector, and urge it to play a leading role promoting ethical finance

During the integration of the two businesses, we will also work to represent the interests of our members within the merged organisation.

For us this is news to celebrate, and we thank all our members and supporters who have worked with us towards this point.