Britannia and Co-op may merge in April

hstudent

apt wrote: »

I agree. The Britannia Direct Saver Reserve at 3.5% including 6 month bonus is also better than any comparable Nationwide offering. Apart from a Flexaccount for foreign currency spending none of the Nationwide's variable products are any good. NW may be making noises about protecting savers but the horse has already bolted. To be credible they should have thought about this earlier and done something like YBS. Instead they've cut some savings accounts by more than the fall of the base rate.

That is a new product introduced to try and get saver's investing due to the big interest rate cuts. Britannia's instant access branch account is 0.1% and the ISA is 1.75% with the latest 0.5% cut not being implemented to the ISA until the end of the month.

apt

-I'm not disagreeing that Britannia also has many poor products, but in my opinion they are less uniformly poor than NW that is also offering only 0.1% for the basic branch product and 1.5-1.7% for the cash ISA. The Direct Saver Reserve is relatively new but hasn't just been introduced since base-rates fell through the floor unlike NW's more restrictive E-Saver plus.

Keybiz

I think the proposed merger will be a good thing. It will allow both brands to really compete with the high street big boys and at a time when everyone is deliberating what they want from the institutions who manage their money. As we have all seen, the big rate payers of the past, and their greed, has led to gross mis-management, unethical practice and the destruction of the wider economy. A large customer owned, ethical business is a great alternative.

ailuro2

We've banked and mortgaged with Co-op for a good few years now, with a Smile current account etc, and their customer service has always been excellent - ok their interest rates aren't market leading, but for the bits of money that lives in our current account I'd rather have good service than a few extra pence in interest.

Also I like their ethical stance, especially turning down business with dodgy businesses - and their HQ is covered in solar panels:D - they don't phone us up and try and sell us loans via a free 'financial consultation' like our last bank did either.

that they can do all this and still remain trading with no bailouts suggest someone at the top has their head screwed on the right way round. Long may it continue.

realaledrinker

Cozworth806 wrote: »

The worry for Co-op members is that the CEO runs it in the same way as Britannia are now.

As the combined entity will be owned by the Co-operative Group and the new Chairman and Finance Director will come from the Co-op, he will hopefully have his wings clipped.

Personally as an employee I feel very sad that our CEO, David Anderson, the person responsible for leading the Co-op Bank (& Insurance Society) through the last few years of growth & success is having to fall on his sword.

mike_the_bike_2

Believe me, there is no such thing as a merger in business, its just said in the press releases to save face. In terms of the future direction of the merged businesses one of the previous companies always comes out top !

Primrose

I can second what mike-the-bike has said. Britannia employees will now find themselves adopting the Co-op systems, databases and administrative processes. I only now have a token amount saved in Britannia because of its appalling interest rates but if the "merger" results in a stronger mutual organisation which can afford to pay better interest rates, I will watch with interest.

hstudent

Not only will there be no windfall but Britannia members will be charged £1 to join the co-op

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/219c0e0e-e796-11dd-b2a5-0000779fd2ac.html

hstudent

Stuart_W wrote: »

Hi. Neither are in trouble.


As Co-operative Group members, there is an annual dividend (share of profits) based on your business within the group:
1 point for every £5 held or borrowed on average in Co-operative Bank current or credit card accounts
1 point for every £5 outstanding on a Co-operative Bank loan
1 point for every £10 held on average in a Co-operative Bank savings account
1 point for every £20 outstanding on a Co-operative Bank mortgage
1 point for every £5 borrowed on average in Co-operative Bank flexible loan accounts
500 points for holding a Co-operative Insurance (CIS) home or motor insurance policy
For the trading year 2007, 1 point = 2.63p dividend
So a £100,000 mortgage paid £131.50 cash dividend for 2007

All of this, of course, depends how members vote at the members' meeting in April.

Hope that helps a little.

£10000 in a Britannia savings account if you've been a member for 10 years earned a loyalty bonus of about £46 last year, the same balance in the co-op would have earned a bonus of about £26. Although if you've been a Britannia member for less than 5 years then it would mean a £3 increase.

Primrose

hstudent wrote: »

Not only will there be no windfall but Britannia members will be charged £1 to join the co-op

Don't know how many members there are in Britannia but that will be a nice little free earner for the Coop.