The Co-operative Bank is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It has its headquarters at Manchester. It was the first clearing bank to offer an interest-bearing cheque account in the year 1982. Its structure is a little different than the other banks. It is a single national bank who is wholly owned by the Co-operative Financial Services. The Co-operative Bank is a bank known for its ethical policies because they know that their customers want their money to be invested ethically. With this in mind, the bank has always stood up for various issues and also donated huge amount to charities and organizations.
The bank offers a large variety of products and services to suit every customer’s needs and budget. The main products are current and savings accounts, credit cards and loans. But it has also expanded in the fields of insurance and investments like unit trusts, investment bonds and pension plans. Through their ‘smile’ venture the bank started providing its products and services via the internet. This operation has received many awards for client servicing and online banking. Another arm of the Co-operative Bank is Britannia. On 1st August 2009, Britannia was merged with the Co-operative Financial Services. Following the merger, they began to deliver a range of products to the customers that they had promised.
The products come with a wide range of features. The savings bank account has fixed interest schemes, children’s schemes and account to invest in shares as well. Mortgage options are available with fixed and flexible interest rates. The bank offers different types of credit cards like fixed rate cards, cashback cards and even charity cards. The bank also offers offshore banking facilities to residents of certain territories, who are living or working abroad.
With so many products set is front of you, the Co-operative Bank may seem an obvious choice. However to ensure that you get the best products, please compare the bank to the rest of the banking services available in the UK for accounts, loans, mortgages and other banking services.
