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The Customer Union for Ethical Banking has invited the Co-operative Group to help with the creation of a new, customer owned, democratic stake in the Co-operative Bank.

Responding to a question from Save Our Bank's Shaun Fensom at the Co-operative Group's AGM on 20 May - see video - the Group chair Allan Leighton said that it was not possible for the Group to comment while the 'sale process' is underway, but confirmed that as a shareholder in the bank, the Group is focused on ensuring any buyer adheres strongly to the cooperative values we all believe in.

In February 2017 the Co-operative Bank put itself up for sale via an announcement on its website. A sale is one of a number of possible outcomes - the bank said it may also look at other ways of raising new capital. It has set up an FAQ page to answer any questions customers may have.

The Customer Union for Ethical Banking is - we think - the first ever co-operative customer union.

We launched in Crowdfunder campaign late in 2015 to raise funds to set the union up. That crowdfunder was very successful with some 1,500 people signing up to contribute and become a member of the Customer Union.

In the time since then, we have been busy.

The Co-operative Bank: Saving a Great Idea

Cartoon by Martin Rowson
Thanks to Martin and Red Pepper magazine

On 6 July, Save Our Bank, Amnesty International UK and the Fund for Global Human Rights organised a discussion meeting on the impact of bank account closures on charities and campaign groups.

The highly-productive all-day meeting was attended by representatives from some of the best-known organisations affected by account closures, smaller affected groups, and experts from more than one country on the issues of bank regulation and its effect on civil society.

Save Our Bank's view on the Co-op Bank's Values and Ethics Report 2015

In late May 2016, the Co-op Bank published its 59-page Values and Ethics Report for 2015. 

Closure of accounts for Palestinian support groups

Over recent weeks we have been contacted by supporters complaining that organisations working to support Palestinians are having their accounts closed by the Co-op Bank. We took this up with the bank as details continued to emerge.