Coventry BS bids for the Co-op Bank

EarthBoy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82115591#Comment_82115591

The Co-operative Bank has never been a mutual organisation, so you were never a member of it, only a customer. Having an account with them for 35 years counted for nothing, so why do you think your membership of the Coventry should be backdated?

The_Groat_Counter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82115591#Comment_82115591

Your years do not "reset to zero", they start at zero as you were never a 'shareholder member' of the Co-op Bank in the first place.

Stuart_W

@Elsatelsa Welcome to MSE forums. I have also been a customer of the Co-op Bank for almost 35 years, but don't have any of the concerns you seem to be worried about.

Co-op bank was always a plc, wholy owned by The Co-operative Group, previously called CWS, up until 2013 when it became a minority shareholder and exited completely in 2017.

Full legal transfer into CBS is a route back to arguably better and a more direct type of mutual ownership, and I will actually become a member directly of the "bank" for the first time, and the bank ceases to be an owned plc but a member-owned building society.

The anti-carpetbagging clause is to prevent folk opening accounts to try and cash in on mutuals turning into plcs as happened throughout the 90s , I would be happy to see that strengthened so membership can never be "cashed in" irrelevant of years of membership and the clause donating share value to charity becomes a permanent status. It was looking very likely at various points another shareholder bank was going to buy. Co-op, Shawbrook and Aldermore were both interested parties at one point, along with Cerberus which would have seen me leaving fast. I am hoping the CBS future is positive for all Co-op's customers, as we shift from being customers to members.

The_Groat_Counter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116146#Comment_82116146

Well said @Stuart_W. I shifted my banking to the Co-op Bank in the wake of the financial crisis, attracted by the idea they were a bit different from the shysters on display elsewhere in the sector. They were indeed different, the problem is they also subsequently proved to be a bit lacking in competence when it came to some of the basics of banking, not helped by the acquisition of Britannia Building Society which turned out to be a bit of a basket case. (Is that a fair summary?)

The Co-op Bank finding its home as part of a big and well run building society, the Coventry, is great news - and far preferable to just stumbling along under unpredictable hedge fund ownership.