Coop switching Britania accounts to coop accounts.

tteedd

My wife and I have three Britania accounts which the Coop have been 'administering' since it took over that Building Soc. My understnding was that it kept them as Britania accounts because if it was to subsume them it would have to pay members their 'share'.

Now many years later it is informing us that it is transferring accounts to the Coop organisation. It gives three choices, none of which involves compensation for our Brittania shares.

Does it no longer have to give compensation due to some change in regulations? Or does it think no-one will remember?

northwalesd

There was a recent, short, thread on the subject https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6458816/britannia-transferring-my-account-to-co-op?

eskbanker

tteedd said:

My wife and I have three Britania accounts which the Coop have been 'administering' since it took over that Building Soc. My understnding was that it kept them as Britania accounts because if it was to subsume them it would have to pay members their 'share'.

What gave you that impression?

[Deleted User]

Good fairytale. 

The tarnished Britannia name has only been a trading name (brand) of Cooperative Bank for years.

In terms of money due, Cooperative Bank unwisely merged with Britannia Building Society straddling it with all the Building Society's bad commercial debts.

So no, Britannia was less than worthless when it merged with Cooperative Bank and probably would have went the way of Northern Rock or Bradford & Bingley otherwise. 

wmb194

tteedd said:

My wife and I have three Britania accounts which the Coop have been 'administering' since it took over that Building Soc. My understnding was that it kept them as Britania accounts because if it was to subsume them it would have to pay members their 'share'.

Now many years later it is informing us that it is transferring accounts to the Coop organisation. It gives three choices, none of which involves compensation for our Brittania shares.

Does it no longer have to give compensation due to some change in regulations? Or does it think no-one will remember?

Britannia was bust and Co-op rescued it. It in turn needed rescuing because it couldn't handle Britannia's losses... Quite a few BSs were rescued in the wake of the GFC and, given that there was no surplus capital to distribute, their members also didn't receive payouts so you're not alone.

My guess as to what's changed now is that Co-op Bank has given up on the idea of using the Britannia brand. Including a market leading fixed rate bond, I remember it did offer a few new accounts after the takeover but for many years I don't remember noticing it.

EarthBoy

tteedd said:

My understnding was that it kept them as Britania accounts because if it was to subsume them it would have to pay members their 'share'.

Not at all.  The reason they kept the Britannia name was because it would feel less disruptive to Britannia members following the Co-op takeover.  They might also have thought there was some value in the Britannia name. 

As it turned out, the Britannia was a broken load of junk, and I'm surprised they didn't drop the name years ago.