An update on Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank

28 November 2024

Coventry Building Society has reached agreement with the sellers of The Co-operative Bank to buy the Bank subject to gaining approval from the financial services regulators.

The purchase is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2025.

 

Delivering for members

The Board and I believe that this will create a stronger Coventry Building Society that will benefit current and future members by helping sustain the value and service you expect from us. The long-term benefits to members include:

• Continued delivery of competitive savings and mortgages, and keeping your money safe, by us becoming a stronger mutual building society.
• An outstanding service in our branches, telephone, online and mobile services, through the ability to invest more.
• More choice, access, and reassurance for you, through a larger UK branch network.
• Meeting more of your needs through a broader set of products and services, like current accounts.
• Continuing to put you at the heart of everything we do, through the creation of a larger, values-driven organisation that makes a positive impact on wider society.

 

The Co-operative Bank – the right fit

The Co-operative Bank is a financially stable, profitable organisation with a shared heritage and products and services that complement our own.

We believe that together, we will be stronger and able to keep offering the value and service that matters to you. We’re confident that we have the people, capability, and the financial strength to achieve this.

 

The same great Coventry Building Society experience

Your savings and mortgage accounts will stay the same and you’ll continue to have the friendly, expert Coventry service you value so much. You do not need to take any action or do anything differently.

 

What happens next

Firstly, you can continue to share your feedback on what we’re doing. Please use all the usual channels for normal servicing queries.

For us, our next milestone is to complete the purchase, at which point The Co-operative Bank will become a subsidiary of Coventry Building Society. We expect this to happen on 1 January 2025.

We will then start to combine the two organisations, and we think this will take us several years. We are not going to rush, and we will keep you informed about our plans and progress.

We have a very successful history at the Society in delivering the best for you, and giving your money a safe and secure home. We believe this is the basis of a very successful future too – with membership, great value and great service at its heart.

 

Steve Hughes
Chief Executive
Coventry Building Society 

Yes. In May 2024, we reached an agreement with the Sellers of The Co-operative Bank to transfer ownership to the Society, subject to regulatory approvals. On 27 November 2024, we received these approvals. This means we can now complete our purchase which we expect to be in the first quarter of 2025.

For our purchase of The Co-operative Bank to go ahead, we had to gain the approval of the financial services regulators who supervise banks and building societies, and who protect consumers and ensure healthy competition. This is a rigorous process, and we’re delighted to have now secured approval from those regulators.

The Co-operative Bank will become a subsidiary of the Society when we complete on the contract, which is expected in the first quarter of 2025.

We believe bringing Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank together will make the Society stronger. We’ll gain additional customers, mortgage and savings balances, a wider set of products and services, including current accounts and The Co-operative Bank’s business proposition, as well as a more nationally representative branch network. We believe this will help us sustain the outstanding service and value you expect from us today well into the future.

Yes, we’ll still be a building society. When we complete the purchase, The Co-operative Bank will become a subsidiary of the Society and return to mutual ownership. Over time, we want its customers to become members of the Society.

Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank will continue to operate under their current names and branding while we carry out the work needed to provide a joined-up service. We expect this may take a few years to get right, but we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

As a member of Coventry Building Society, you’ll continue to experience the same great value and service you have today. Your savings or mortgage accounts stay the same, and you’ll continue to use all our existing services – branches, telephone, online and our mobile app.

When we take ownership of The Co-operative Bank, we’ll begin the ‘behind the scenes’ work that means we can provide one joined up service in the future. We expect this to take several years, but we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

There’s a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ work that we need to complete before providing one joined up service. We expect this work to take several years and as we complete it, we’ll be able to provide access to additional services. In the meantime, you can continue to access Coventry Building Society products and services through the Society, and The Co-operative Bank products and services through The Co-operative Bank.

While our aim is to extend membership rights to customers of The Co-operative Bank, this is part of the combination work that we think will take a few years. In the meantime, there’s no change for customers or members of either organisation.

As the two organisations will operate separately to start with, this won’t be possible. There’s a lot of work to do before we can provide one joined up service which could take a few years. In the meantime, you’ll continue to operate your Society products and services through the Society, and Bank products and services through the Bank.

At completion, Coventry Building Society and The Co-operative Bank will retain their banking licences, and you will have Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection as a customer of each organisation as you do now. We expect this to be the case for several years.

Find out more information about the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

One of the attractions of buying The Co-operative Bank is a larger national footprint – and over time, we’re aiming to create a larger branch network that would provide choice, access and reassurance to more people.

It’s likely to take several years before we can offer a joined-up service, there won’t be any changes just yet.

The Co-operative Bank was formed in 1872 out of the Co-operative movement, which established businesses that were owned and run for the benefit of their members, rather like building societies.

It was sold by The Co-operative Group – which is the group that operates the Co-op shops, Co-op insurance and Co-op funeral care – and the Society is buying it from a large number of financial investors.

The Co-operative Bank has a similar number of colleagues to us and serves three million customers, providing savings and mortgages, plus current accounts, insurances, credit cards, loans and business banking. It has 50 branches and has regularly won awards for its ethical practices.

We’ll keep updating this page on the website and contact you as appropriate.

We really want to keep hearing from you – if you’re thinking it, other members probably are too. You can leave your thoughts and any questions you may have about what we’re doing here. Please carry on using all the usual channels for normal servicing queries.