Co-op Bank’s message to customers: It’s business as usual
The Co-operative Bank has moved to reassure customers after announcing it's putting itself up for sale.
The bank said this morning it is seeking a buyer "alongside other options", three years into a turnaround plan put in place after the lender revealed a £1.5bn black hole in its finances.
In a message to customers of the bank's chief executive, Liam Coleman, said the decision to open up the sale process "has been taken very carefully".
"We know our ethical banking proposition, governed by our ethical policy, is important to our customers," he said.
"This is about the best route forward to deliver the next phase of the bank's turnaround plan. No outcome has been decided yet and a sale is, of course, dependent on agreeing an offer that is right for our customers and other stakeholders.
"We also continue to look at other options to build capital for the future. We believe our approach to banking, with values and ethics at the centre of everything we do, sets us apart and remains the key reason why approximately 4m customers choose to bank with us. As we move through this process, I would like to assure customers this approach will be a key consideration."
Stronger than in 2013
Coleman said the bank was "stronger in a number of areas today than in 2013" and had worked hard to rebuild its customer proposition.
"We have also made considerable progress in fixing major legacy issues and making the bank more resilient overall, underlined this weekend by the successful migration of our mainframe banking systems to our partner IBM, which marked a major milestone on our journey to turn the bank around," he continued.
"I thank our colleagues for all their hard work and commitment to deliver this, and our customers for their patience and understanding during the recent systems downtime. However, our ability to continue to build capital for the future has been adversely impacted by the lower for longer interest rate environment and the greater than expected cost of fixing the legacy issues of the past."
Coleman concluded his message by reassuring customers today's announcement will have "no direct impact" on the products and services the Co-op Bank provides.
"As we go through the process, it remains very much business as usual, and our number one priority is to continue to provide the high quality service that is valued by our customers," he said.