Co-operative Bank is no longer for sale, having issued a statement confirming it is in discussions with existing investors.
The Bank’s intension is to remain a standalone operation in order to safeguard the Co-operative’s values and ethics. To achieve this aim it requires recapitalisation, ideally through the support of existing investors.
If successful, the outcome “would enable the Bank to meet the longer term capital requirements applicable to all UK banks”.
It was a failure to convince the Bank of England that the Co-operative was equipped to operate as an independent financial provider that led to it being forced to put itself up for sale in February.
At the time the Co-operative levelled the blame for its predicament on low interest rates and the higher-than-expected cost or ensuring it was able to meet the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority requirements.
According to the Co-operative the negotiations to re-fund the bank are at an advanced stage, with the majority of the key commercial aspects of the recapitalisation proposal “substantially agreed”.
Discussions relating to the separation of The Co-operative Pension Scheme and the Bank under the Co-operate umbrella are said to be advanced, while talks on other vital matters, are also moving in the right direction.
