Worth still keeping Britannia account for carpet bagging?

jonny2510

I've kept an old Britannia Direct Saver account open for for 10+ years with a small (£100) balance in case there was ever a merger and resulting share issue (like Halifax, and Bradford and Bingley - back in the day!).

A few years back, Britannia got took over, by the Cooperative, but there was no share issue.

Given that Coop bank is a plc, does this effectively rule out the chance of ever getting any share issue on this account?

In short, whilst I don't *need* the money, would I be better closing the account, moving it somewhere that pays more interest, and reducing my ongoing admin/paperwork?

margaretx9

No - its part of the Co-op Bank and you don't own a share in the business.
You may of course be a Co-op member - so if they demutualise there might be a payout. But given they are a socialist body with close links to the Labour party the chances of them doing so are close to zero.

AnotherJoe

jonny2510 said:

In short, whilst I don't *need* the money, would I be better closing the account, moving it somewhere that pays more interest, and reducing my ongoing admin/paperwork?

yep. (no refunds given if they privatise and you lose out on £20k next week)

jonny2510

AnotherJoe said:

... if they privatise and you lose out on £20k next week

I don't follow this?

jonny2510

margaretx9 said:

No - its part of the Co-op Bank and you don't own a share in the business.
You may of course be a Co-op member - so if they demutualise there might be a payout. But given they are a socialist body with close links to the Labour party the chances of them doing so are close to zero.

Thanks, that's what I feared. 

I was just so lucky with the other two (held accounts with them before carpet bagging was a 'thing'), but remember signing something when I opened my first account with Britannia in the mid 90's that said I'd waive any rights for the first 5 (or 10) years, which always made me hope it would be a possibility.  Ah well... 

Zanderman

margaretx9 said:

No - its part of the Co-op Bank and you don't own a share in the business.
You may of course be a Co-op member - so if they demutualise there might be a payout. But given they are a socialist body with close links to the Labour party the chances of them doing so are close to zero.

The Co-op bank is not part of the Co-op! 
It was sold to investors some time ago. 
So I don't think it's remotely correct to imply the bank has something to do with the labour party. 
And, even it it was it's naive to suggest that would be reason for no share issue.  
But Britannia are no longer a mutual, so there can be no demutualisation - whatever the owner is, and whatever their politics are.

JezR

When it became part of the Co-op bank you should have received a membership card for The Co-op Group, which gave you a share in the business, which you should still have even after the disposal of the bank.