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Address to Customer Union members from Paul Lawler of the Co-operative Bank

Paul Lawler of the Co-operative Bank addresses Customer Union members from Save Our Bank on Vimeo.

Should the Customer Union accept the deal agreed by the Co-op Bank with its investors to provide £700m capital funding?

This vote is now closed

(from 5pm Sunday 12 November).

We will announce the result at the General Meeting of the Customer Union for Ethical Banking in Manchester on 18 November

The International Co-operative Alliance describes how a co-operative is at least partly owned and controlled by its members. The Co-operative Bank has never had members, but it used to be owned by The Co-operative Group, which does have members. Now the Co-operative Group has almost completely withdrawn from the bank, we want to see progress - towards bank customers having more say and more ownerhsip.

The Co-operative Group has sold its remaining stake in Co-operative Bank. Here is our view on what this means.

With the sale of the Co-operative Group’s 1% stake in the Co-operative Bank, the last remaining link between the bank and its former owner has been broken.

Save Our Bank’s view on the Co-op Bank’s Values and Ethics Report

The Customer Union for Ethical Banking has invited the Co-operative Group to help with the creation of a new, customer owned, democratic stake in the Co-operative Bank.

Responding to a question from Save Our Bank's Shaun Fensom at the Co-operative Group's AGM on 20 May - see video - the Group chair Allan Leighton said that it was not possible for the Group to comment while the 'sale process' is underway, but confirmed that as a shareholder in the bank, the Group is focused on ensuring any buyer adheres strongly to the cooperative values we all believe in.

In February 2017 the Co-operative Bank put itself up for sale via an announcement on its website. A sale is one of a number of possible outcomes - the bank said it may also look at other ways of raising new capital. It has set up an FAQ page to answer any questions customers may have.

The Customer Union for Ethical Banking is - we think - the first ever co-operative customer union.

We launched in Crowdfunder campaign late in 2015 to raise funds to set the union up. That crowdfunder was very successful with some 1,500 people signing up to contribute and become a member of the Customer Union.

In the time since then, we have been busy.