Have banked with smile the co-ops internet bank for over 10 years. Excellent customer service anx ethical too. But recent (and not so recent) press reports make me nervous. I realise I dont have enough money tobe worried about losing it due to the govt guarantee but my new motorbike fund (also known as new kichen fund by the mrs) might be out of reach for a while causing stress and delay. Would you change baks or shift savings elswhere?

I’ve got my current account with the Co-op; I’m not that worried.

Savings are however somewhere else.

Not sure it’s that ethical any more. Owned by a US hedge fund now IIRC.

Am I right in thinking, if someone got a dozen friends to queue outside a branch tomorrow morning before opening time, took a pic and upload to social media, that could trigger events that could bring the bank down?

You might be right and that makes me nervous!

Your money is safe so the issue is do you value what the Co op try top do and want to continue to support it or do you want to pull it out and put it in one of those other lovely conscientious and morally minded banks?

Grum its a co – op its owned by its members…it may owe some money to some dubious types [ i dont know tbh]

Not sure it’s that ethical any more. Owned by a US hedge fund now IIRC.

IIRC it’s written into the bank’s governing rules that the ethical policy must be maintained regardless of ownership, and the new owners haven’t sought to change this.

They’re actually good at the whole being a bank thing, quite apart from their penchant for employing coke-snorting reverends in top jobs. Been a customer for 20 years now with few complaints. Only thing I would moan about is a slightly trigger-happy fraud prevention department which sometimes blocks innocent Visa card purchases.

I don’t have anywhere near enough money that isn’t going to be covered by the government’s deposit guarantee, so even in the event that they do go down the tubes, my month’s-wages-plus-whatever-pittance-I-never-spent-last-month is going to be covered.

A-A; you’ll find this link useful…

http://www.fscs.org.uk/

But why wait? Would you have wanted to be in one of the nervous queues outside the Norhern Rock if you had an inkling in advance that something may be amiss?

The definition of ethical is highly subjective.

I don’t think there is anything ethical about paying the chief executive of the Co-op, who lacked any experience of running a co-op and was clearly not indispensable, over £3.5million for one year in the job.

But then I do have a different set of ethics to someone like, say, David Cameron.

True ernie but I doubt CMD supports the co – op ethos and its is the best choice in a poor selection IMHO
All banks would collapse is 10-15 % of their customers asked for their money back so by doing this you create what you fear.

The money is safe as it is underwritten.

all these promises of governmnet guarantes, which can be with drawn or adapted at any time, especially when there are many thousands of people all waiting for the next failed bank to open its locke doors.

Just how are these so called guarantees going to be funded and where are the staff to run them going to be available and trained from.

A ray of sunshine as ever project

ernie_lynch – Member
The definition of ethical is highly subjective.

I don’t think there is anything ethical about paying the chief executive of the Co-op, who lacked any experience of running a co-op and was clearly not indispensable, over £3.5million for one year in the job.

A lot of the “ethical” marketing rarely stands up to scrutiny. A lot of poor decision making going on there and the group is in turmoil. I doubt that your money is at risk (and covered by insurance to a level) but do you want to bank with such a mess???

I doubt CMD supports the co – op ethos

Well that goes without saying. Although he did make support for workers co-ops an election issue last general election.

Tory ‘worker co-operatives’ plan

You’ll never lose any money from any UK bank. Government can’t afford for confidence to be lost.
The government paid out way above the guarantee scheme to keep Bradford & Bingley afloat.

A lot of the “ethical” marketing rarely stands up to scrutiny.

And a lot of Tory promises rarely stand up to scrutiny.

What’s new ?

A ray of sunshine as ever project

no another fact of life from the condems, who seem to not stick to the rules but change them or alter the rules to suit themselves or their wealthy buddies.

The co op will gradually be asset striped, farms and pharmacies first to go, then probably insurance,but with huge job loses and even worse customer service.

robowns – Member
You’ll never lose any money from any UK bank. Government can’t afford for confidence to be lost.
The government paid out way above the guarantee scheme to keep Bradford & Bingley afloat.

Not true and it can take a hell of a long time. How much do you value “liquidity”?

I doubt that your money is at risk (and covered by insurance to a level) but do you want to bank with such a mess???

I assume most of us bank with them because of the ethics and just hope they pull through.

Removing our money is not going to help and its safe as it is underwritten.

Turmoil is an under statement as well, its a proper dogs dinner of a mess.

Ernie’s rant has confused the coop group exec with the bank exec, proof that he’s talking cr@p (who btw waived all bonuses on resignation, only retained his basic wage)

If the terms of your account state you can access them it will be honoured and the fscs will safeguard the value

Ernie’s rant has confused the coop group exec with the bank exec, proof that he’s talking cr@p

What makes you think I’ve confused the two ?

The Co-op Group has a commitment to ethical policies. If you didn’t know that then I’ll suggest that you’re a little confused yourself.

And by the way expressing an opinion doesn’t automatically constitute a “rant”.

.

EDIT : “who btw waived all bonuses on resignation, only retained his basic wage”

I don’t care if he refused to accept a brass farthing. The willingness of the Co-op to pay an individual over £3.5million for one year’s work puts into doubt their “ethical” policy. I don’t think there is anything ethical about paying anyone that sort of money. Specially someone so easily replaced. But then, as I say, I have a different set of ethics to some other people.

If the terms of your account state you can access them it will be honoured and the fscs will safeguard the value

thats good to know thanks

Grum its a co – op its owned by its members…it may owe some money to some dubious types [ i dont know tbh]

I thought they’d sold the banking division. Could be wrong though – CBA to check. 🙂

IIRC it’s written into the bank’s governing rules that the ethical policy must be maintained regardless of ownership, and the new owners haven’t sought to change this.

Didn’t know that, ta.

And a lot of Tory promises rarely stand up to scrutiny.

Same for Labour, lib dems, etc. For lib dems that could read “most”…

Rather than being taken in by the ethical stuff, just do some due diligence. The Myners report is hot off the press and the BBC summarised it as

The first stage of the Myners review accuses the Co-op of suffering from a significant “democratic deficit” in which ordinary members have surprisingly weak constitutional rights and a limited ability to influence the group’s social mission and activities.

The Britannia building society and Somerfield takeovers had cost the Group billions of pounds and had led to the accumulation of unsustainable debts which undermined its competitive position and severely eroded its capital base, Lord Myners added.

Is this an institution where you want to keep your hard earned cash? You decide……

P.s. No longer part of the coop group even if they still own 30%. But recent events suggest much of the poor legacy remains even under new ownership and structure.

I thought they’d sold the banking division. Could be wrong though – CBA to check.

Me neither but I assume THM answer means it is not

ernie_lynch – Member
The definition of ethical is highly subjective.
I don’t think there is anything ethical about paying the chief executive of the Co-op, who lacked any experience of running a co-op and was clearly not indispensable, over £3.5million for one year in the job.

I’m not sure you’ll find anything ethical in the 100 or so co-operative heads who really govern the “Co-op” either. These people are paid upwards of £40K a year each and many have little or no relevant business experience – so what you basically have is an apparently ethical business and bank that’s now governed by unaccountable people without relevant experience, and up till recently a banking arm chaired by a Crystal Methodist who had reportedly more in common with the behaviours Wolf of Wall St than anything else. On the side it makes large contributions to the Labour party (upwards of £1m a year) when most of it’s members and customers do not realise this is the case.

All this is irrelevant though – the glaring fact is that the Co-op is pretty much ungovernable in its common form and will almost certainly fail. The most recent CEO (contrary to popular and but incorrect reports) did not earn £3.5m or take a multi-million package and actually walked away from a £3m retention bonus that he was contractually entitled to – it’s kind of ironic when the recent CEO actually acted ethically when the organisation that he was brought in to stabilise brands itself as ethical is anything but.

I’ve got loads of stuff with the Co-Op and leaving it there. They got caught with their trousers down because they thought they could play the same investment shenanigans as every other high street name. If you don’t trust the underwriting guarantee you might as well get a big mattress and a baseball bat.

it makes large contributions to the Labour party (upwards of £1m a year) when most of it’s members and customers do not realise this is the case.

You would have to be particularly daft to be a member of the Co-op and not realise its connection with the Labour Party. And that’s no one’s fault other than the individual concerned. The Co-op openingly publicises its connection with the Labour Party, indeed there are currently 32 MPs in parliament who stood as Co-op candidates, ie, next to their names on the ballot papers were written the words “Labour and Co-operative Party”.

You would also have to be daft to think that they have behaved in either an ethical or a competent manner. Myners could hardly have been more damning. They have fooled a lot of people though TBF…..

AA are you getting a higher return from leaving you money with the coop?. If not, why are you taking a risk with a group that had shown little if any redeeming qualities?

No the money will only be around for 6 months max and 1.25% gross at best on 7k-10k compared to whatever the rate is with smile isnt as important to me as ease of transfer into my current account. I’ll keep my current account with them as they have been very good to deal with over the years. I was just worried that if they went tits up just at the moment the mrs pressed fire on a new kitchen I’d be screwed.

Would get a lovely new motorbike with that money though! Have to wait till I can at least walk peoperly for that I think.

1.25% versus inflation of 1.9% – so a negative real return to compensate you for giving your hard earned cash to a bunch of jokers. Our financial system is just great isn’t it…….

FSCS – Up to £85,000 per person, per financial institution is guaranteed – you would be at risk if you had more than £85,000 total spread among any combination of Smile, Co-op or Britannia.
Good information here: Money Saving Expert
Ironically, Brittania currently have one of the top non-ISA savings accounts going…

1.25% versus inflation of 1.9% – so a negative real return to compensate you for giving your hard earned cash to a bunch of jokers. Our financial system is just great isn’t it…….

There’s no compulsion to save with them, most of my cash savings are getting 5% right now (bonds).

You would also have to be daft to think that they have behaved in either an ethical or a competent manner.

Why ? The Co-op isn’t a recent experiment you know, it’s been around for 150 years and is one of the largest retail businesses in the country. Do you think it achieved all that through incompetence ?

The UK retail sector is a highly competitive market, and you of all people THM should recognise the power of market forces to weed out those who fail to act in “a competent manner”.

Whatever the situation is today it’s very clear that the Co-op has been doing something very right for a very long time.

My nan was a great advocate of the coop all her life, but that makes no difference to the recent history which is one of spectacular incompetence. Accrington Stanley used to be a good football side, so what now???

AA you can read what Myners has to say about the whole group or believe what a group of MTBers (me included) think. Your choice, Ditto with your money. You will get less back than you started with. If you think that is a good idea (especially given the coop’s spectacular history, to the extent that is relevant) then that is your choice. Like footflaps, I would not be making that choice. But what do I know?

The weeding out is clear, just read the news.

My nan was a great advocate of the coop all her life, but that makes no difference to the recent history

I agree that your nan’s opinion is quite irrelevant.

Isn’t it good when we agree on stuff ? 🙂

So why post your stuff Ernie, when AA is asking what he should do with his money now!

I was responding to your comment, you know…..like you’ve been responding to my comments.