View source for Customer Union for Ethical Banking

{{Infobox union
| name         = {{Nowrap|Customer Union for Ethical Banking}}
| image        = [[File:Consumer_Union_for_Ethical_Banking_Logo.png|250px]]
| location_country= United Kingdom
| headquarters = Unit 21, 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester, M15 5RF
| website      = {{URL|https://saveourbank.coop}}
| members      = 1,200 (2019)<ref>{{cite news |title=Customers clinch victory as Co-op Bank recognises ethics campaign |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/04/rescued-cooperative-bank-recognises-customer-union |access-date=1 July 2020 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
| founded      = February 2016<ref>{{cite web |title=FCA Mutuals Register |url=https://mutuals.fca.org.uk/Search/Society/9096 |access-date=1 July 2020}}</ref>
}}
The '''Customer Union for Ethical Banking''' is a United Kingdom [[consumer organisation]] campaigning for [[The Co-operative Bank]] to maintain and strengthen its ethical standards and return to co-operative ownership in the future.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A union of Co-op bank customers {{!}} Save Our Bank|url=https://saveourbank.coop/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=saveourbank.coop}}</ref> It has also played a part in pressuring the leadership of the bank to implement external [[Audit|auditors]] for its annual values and ethics report.<ref>{{Cite news|last=correspondent|first=Kalyeena Makortoff Banking|date=2019-12-05|title=Customers clinch victory as Co-op Bank recognises ethics campaign|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/04/rescued-cooperative-bank-recognises-customer-union|access-date=2020-06-30|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> It has over 10,000 registered supporters among the bank's customers, as well as 1,200 paying members.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-05-30|title=Save Our Bank|url=https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/save-our-bank|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Ethical Consumer|language=en}}</ref>
== Issues at the bank ==
In the first half of 2013, the Co-operative Bank (then a subsidiary of the [[The Co-operative Group|Co-operative Group]]) lost £700m, making the planned expansion of the bank impossible, and raising some warning signs for the bank's customers. Later that year, in May, a £1.5bn "black hole" was found in the bank's accounts. This failing was largely blamed on the bank's chairman, [[Paul Flowers (banker)|Paul Flowers]] and the takeover of Britannica Building Society in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=Co-operative Bank's former chairman 'seeking help' after drugs admission |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/17/co-op-bank-former-chairman-cash-drugs |access-date=1 July 2020 |work=THE GUARDIAN}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Profile: Paul Flowers |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/business-news-markets-live/10455159/Profile-Rev.-Paul-Flowers.html |publisher=The Telegraph}}</ref>
This led to the eventual takeover of the bank by several [[Hedge fund|hedge funds]], to plug the financial gap of the bank, which otherwise would have collapsed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Co-op Group makes loss as bank stake written off |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40402413 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> In April 2017, the Co-operative group sold off its remaining 20% stake in the bank, marking an end to [[Cooperative|co-operative ownership]]. At this time, serious questions were raised by the Save our Bank campaign about its ethical status, with the union saying that the bank 'would not stand a chance' if it did not continue with its ethical policy.<ref>{{cite news |title=Co-op Group makes loss as bank stake written off |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39512026 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Co-operative Group's stake in Co-op bank to fall to 1% |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41006673 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>
== History of the union ==
The consumer union was born out of the [[Ethical Consumer]] Magazine's Save our Bank campaign, which was spun off into a separate co-operative society in 2016, after a successful £30,000 crowdfunding campaign was completed. The union says that becoming a co-operative society will help their members to 'contribute to the debate on how to keep ethics at the heart of financial decision-making at the Co-op Bank'.<ref>{{Cite news|title=CUEB gathering on ethical future of Co-op Bank|work=Co-op News|url=https://www.thenews.coop/110865/sector/banking-and-insurance/cueb-gathering-ethical-future-co-op-bank/|access-date=2020-06-30}}</ref> In 2019, the Customer Union signed a recognition agreement with the bank.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Co-operative Bank signs agreement with customers union|work=Co-op News|url=https://www.thenews.coop/144496/sector/banking-and-insurance/co-operative-bank-signs-agreement-with-customers-union/}}</ref>
In the future, the union has said that it will hold the Co-operative group to account for the continued implementation of its ethical policy. It also plans in the future to slowly buy a [[Share (finance)|share]] in the bank, in a bid for an eventual return to co-operative ownership.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-05-30|title=Save Our Bank|url=https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/save-our-bank|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Ethical Consumer|language=en}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Ethical banking]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:2016 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Consumer rights organizations]]
[[Category:Consumer organisations in the United Kingdom]]