Why we are staying with the Co-op Bank

When Save Our Bank was set up the Co-operative Bank was in crisis. A rescue bid left the bank in mostly private hands - just 20% stayed with the former owners, The Co-operative Group. Soon there were the revelations about Paul Flowers that added to the sense of crisis.

Many customers decided that they no longer believed in the bank. They didn't trust it to stick to its principles. They wanted a co-operative bank, owned by its customers rather than hedge funds. And they left in large numbers.

Open letter to the Co-op Bank on Palestine groups

Here is the text of an open letter from the Save Our Bank campaign to the Co-operative Bank.

Niall Booker
CEO, Co-operative Bank
PO Box 101
1 Balloon Street
Manchester, M60 4EP

Open letter from the Save our Bank Campaign

Please reconsider your decision on banking services for Palestine support organisations

 

Dear Mr Booker,

It has come to our attention that the Co-operative Bank has closed a number of accounts of Palestine solidarity organisations in the UK.

Let's do this... launching the Customer Union Crowdfunder

The wait is over… we are excited to be launching the crowdfunding campaign to set up the Customer Union for Co-op Bank customers today!

We’ve been preparing for this moment for a while, so hopefully you know what this is all about and are itching to get involved already. (If so, go ahead and check out the crowdfunder page here.)

Open letter to the bank

The Co-operative Bank
P.O. Box 101
1 Balloon Street,
Manchester
M60 4EP

15 May 2015

To the Co-operative Bank

An open letter to the Co-operative Bank on executive pay

Hundreds of your customers have contacted you on the subject of the Chief Executive Niall Booker’s pay packet. News sources report that Booker’s pay could amount to £4.97m this year if targets are "exceeded".

To place this in the context of the pay packages of other bank chief executives in the UK:

Newsletter 20 Jan 2015: The Co-op Bank’s new ethics policy is finally unveiled...

The Co-op Bank has finally unveiled its new Ethical Policy - and the good news is that, in the words of an old TV ad, there’s “nowt taken out”.

That means as Co-op customers, we can still be sure our money isn’t going into arms for oppressive regimes, companies that abuse labour rights, animal testing of cosmetics, and the various other corporate misdeeds customers have told the bank to say “no” to.

Five messages to the bank on its ethical consultation

The Co-op Bank’s consultation on its ethics is fast approaching. Save Our Bank supporters want to see bank use the upcoming ethics consultation as an opportunity to show it recognises the need to build trust, and to strengthen rather than weaken its commitment to ethics. Here are our five messages to the bank on what we would like to see in this consultation:

Kelly Review into failings at the Co-op

Kelly ReviewIn July 2013 Sir Christopher Kelly was appointed to conduct a review into the failings that led to the problems in the Co-operative Bank in 2013, and so to its eventual take over by private investors and hedge funds.

Save Our Bank calls on Booker not to accept seven-figure bonus

The Save Our Bank campaign is calling on the Co-op Bank's Chief Executive not to accept the £1.7m bonus he has been promised if the bank's position improves. “The bank needs to take a lead and show that it is different from other banks,” said Shaun Fensom from the Save Our Bank campaign. “It can start by rejecting excessive pay deals.”

Save Our Bank in the Media

2014

Co-operative Bank results make grim reading: Co-operative News, 15 April 2014

"Shaun Fensom of the Save Our Bank campaign urges customers to be forthright in their responses, while staying with the Bank through its crisis. “We believe that by sticking together we can hold the Bank to its ethical principles and ultimately help a return to co-op control,” he says. “If we leave then we ensure these things won’t happen."

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