How ethical is the Co Op Bank?

suejb2

Evening,
I have been with Smile since they were 'invented' by the Co-operative Bank in 1999. Now they have literally sold out and are owned by hedge funds how does this effect their ethics?

JuicyJesus

Their ethical policy hasn't changed. It's considered a USP of theirs so they're not likely to ditch it.

tacpot12

While they do reject some customers on the basis of their ethical policy, they don't treat staff, suppliers or customers ethically. They are as commercial and hard-nosed as any other bank. I worked for them for five years and have worked for other banks.

Alexland

I had my first current account with Coop and remember a manager in a nice wood panel office explaining how I could use the basic facilities. Before that I had only had passbook saving accounts. A cheque book made me feel like a proper grown up.

Anyway those days are gone and while I wish Coop well they are owned by others now so are going to drive the P&L hard while paying lip service to ethics.

How many customers do they really need to screen out for ethical reasons and does that make any difference to the world if those customers bank elsewhere?

Their products are so poor now they might do more damage to unethical customers by offering them accounts!

Alex

jonesMUFCforever

The CO-OP bank is no longer a co-op.
As has been said already it is wholly owned by hedge funds.

Any ethical policy therefore is pure marketing splurge - indeed it has been suggested in the financial press that the bank will shortly change its name.

JuicyJesus

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

The CO-OP bank is no longer a co-op.
As has been said already it is wholly owned by hedge funds.

Any ethical policy therefore is pure marketing splurge - indeed it has been suggested in the financial press that the bank will shortly change its name.

The Co-op Bank was never a co-operative. It was wholly owned by the Co-operative Group, which is indeed a co-op, but was otherwise a standard plc. This is why nobody got windfall payments from its sale. Nationwide and Yorkshire BS are both actual co-ops; the Co-op bank is and was not one.

The ethical policy isn't marketing splurge, they appear to be rather serious about it. There's no need for a business to be a co-op for it to be ethical (or, for that matter, vice versa).

robatwork

Never forget this:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/23/coop-scandal-paul-flowers-mutual-societies

The more "god-fearing", noble and ethical a person paints themselves to be.........

oldagetraveller

You beat me to it robatwork. I was initialy with Co-op bank then a smile customer right from their beginning when I transferred.
I left soon after that particular individual became chairman.:(
Ethical?- not any more.

robatwork

oldagetraveller wrote: »

You beat me to it robatwork. I was initialy with Co-op bank then a smile customer right from their beginning when I transferred.
I left soon after that particular individual became chairman.:(
Ethical?- not any more.

We're probably best just accepting banks are a necessary evil and their levels of evilness are completely obscure.

Triodos are the latest one to jump onto the ethical bandwagon. So I'm saying here and now on this thread - there will be a scandal with their green/ethical credentials in the next 5 years.

greenbee

Triodos have been in the ethical banking business for years. I used to bank with them, but got a bit fed up with the difficulty of managing my account. Hopefully their online banking has improved.

This may help if you're looking to select an ethical bank. You can adjust the ratings based on the ethical policies that matter most to you:

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/money/bankingcurrentaccounts.aspx

JuicyJesus

The thing is, running a bank, you're going to eventually have to do something someone considers unethical. Mr Smith can't pay his overdraft back, so the bank removes the limit and calls it in, leaving Mr Smith a bit b*ggered; the business logic is sound, it's pretty much a necessity at the point it tends to happen if you want to run a solvent bank, but it's still a fairly unpleasant thing to do.

The Co-op's ethical policy extends solely to businesses it chooses to do (or not do) business with. It doesn't mean it is a happy clappy organisation that is nice to everyone.