A one-day mini-conference in November 2016 in Manchester hosted by the Customer Union for Ethical Banking.

Eventbrite - The Co-operative Bank – Saving a Great Idea

With new ownership at the Co-operative Bank, does it still have a future as a world-leading ethical brand? And how can an organised Customer Union help ensure the bank stays ethical, and even becomes more co-operative?

An all-day conference in Manchester exploring the future of ethical banking at the Co-operative Bank and more widely, this will be the first opportunity for members of the new Customer Union for Ethical Banking and supporters of the Save Our Bank campaign to come together and discuss how we will organise and work to keep the bank ethical.

Sat 19 November 2016, 10.00am – 4.30pm, Northern Quarter, Manchester

Register here

Speakers:

  • Dirk Coeckelbergh CEO of Newb - on Europes' new crowdfunded co-op bank
  • Nick Crofts President of the Co-operative Group national member council - on working together.
  • Frances Coppola economist, commentator and former banker
  • Peter Frankental from Amnesty - NGO account closures.
  • Kathy Brooks from Saddleworth Palestine Women's Scholarship Fund - impact of account closures
  • Ryan Brightwell from BankTrack - ethical finance and the wider banking sector.
  • Shaun Fensom from Save our Bank - customer take over of the bank?
  • Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer - lessons from supporters clubs and trade unions.

Morning theme: All about The Co-operative Bank

  • The Save our Bank campaign and the Customer Union for Ethical Banking; 
  • Ownership and ethics at the Co-op Bank - How is the bank performing on its ethical commitments? Can we preserve ethics with a Customer Union? Can we help make the bank more co-operative?
  • The closure of Palestine and other solidarity support group accounts.

Afternoon Theme – Making a Customer Union Work

  • Learning from the trade union movement, Football Club supporters’ co-ops and the rest of the co-operative movement
  • New technologies changing the landscape: crypto currencies, peer to peer lending and crowdfunding
  • Where next for the Customer Union? Give us advice on how to include members in decision-making inside the organization.