Get rid of the Co-op rotten apples, says Roger
Posted by Roger Godsiff, MP for Birmingham, Hall Green, at 19:20, Wed 13 November 2013:
Speaking to Co-operative party members and supporters in his constituency after he had put down an Early Day Motion calling on the City Regulator and the Business Secretary to force the Co-operative Bank to change its name because its description is misleading, Roger said:
"News that Vulture Funds and Hedge Funds now own 70% of the Co-operative Bank signals a very sad day for all those who have been customers of the bank and shoppers and members of the wider Co-operative movement. The original ‘Rochdale pioneers’ who set up the first Co-operative in 1848 must be turning in their graves at the way a bunch of greedy, incompetent executives at the top of the bank decided to engage in the same type of reckless risk taking which other banks—including Northern Rock, RBS and Lloyds—engaged in, and which brought the economy to its knees in 2008. It also led to vast amounts of public money being poured in to rescue these banks.”
Roger continued: “The executives at the top of the bank were not content to run a traditional retail bank which served the needs of its customers and made decent profits. They wanted a piece of the deregulated wild west action which most other bank executives were indulging in—selling financial products and taking ridiculous risks—while pocketing vast sums in pay, bonuses and massive pension pots. This was totally self-servicing and a complete betrayal of what the Co-operative movement stood for."
"They destroyed the Bank, and it is now owned and controlled by some of the most voracious vulture funds and hedge funds, based in tax havens, who despite their mealy-mouthed assurances have nothing whatsoever in common with co-operative ideals.The vulture funds involved operate by buying up unpaid loans—at knock-down prices—often made to very poor countries who have defaulted on them. They then pursue them through the Courts so that those countries have to sell off public assets, such as hospitals, to pay off the debts. These are the sort of people who now control the Co-operative Bank!”
Roger is writing to the City Regulator and to the Business Secretary to call on them to use their powers to force the Bank to change its name, because the description is misleading.
"Unfortunately”, said Roger, “what happened with the Co-operative Bank did not come as a complete surprise. For too long the co-operative ideals which are the backbone of the movement had begun to be subordinated to the drive for profits by executives, who were paid bonuses for driving profits even higher at the expense of the customer.”
Roger concluded: “When an investigative TV programme revealed what executives in the Co-op Funeral Service were doing—with coffins containing dead bodies piling up in industrial warehouses—I wrote to the Chief Executive of the Funeral Service asking for an explanation. I received a reply from a slick PR company giving all sorts of excuses.When I asked whether the executives were paid any bonuses, in addition to their already generous salaries, the PR company said that this was confidential information and could not be revealed!”
“Unfortunately, the co-operative movement has allowed some ‘rotten apples’ to contaminate its reputation. The sooner they get rid of them the sooner the co-operative movement can move forward again and return to serving its customers."
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Posted by Stephen Freestainton, 23:34, Wed 13 November 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
The very idea of politicians lecturing bankers over moral rectitude: talk about pots calling kettles black! We currently benefit from the first political co-operative since the Second World War; although far from perfect, at least Labour's reckless overspending is now being redressed. During the nineteen-eighties, UK politicians, industrialists, and economists blindly followed US Yankee financial deregulation policies. After the Tory thatcherites withdrew the teeth of British banking system's checks and balances; the New Labo'Tory, a.k.a. Tony's cronies, just accelerated such removal of "red tape". It was party-time for bankers, as nearly every building society was demutualised, thus creating short-term profits for shareholders. Accountants got drunk on this virtual success; and the impression of "creating" further wealth by selling of the nation's service industries. The banks ALL competed for "market share" in this shameless orgy of greed, outwith the oversight of a potent ethical watchdog. Both Tory and Tony politicians PRAISED this feeding frenzy: bestowing knighthoods indeed, on the most effective "players"! Meanwhile, many of the same politicians had their own snouts in the infamous MPs' "expenses" trough. While I do not condone any immoral behaviour of Co-Op bankers or other employees; it seems that these recently-exposed improprieties are no worse than those previously-revealed at other banks, or indeed at Westminster. We need to statutorily limit bonuses and perks paid to city bankers, stockbrokers and any other fat-cats; and maintain a toothed ethical standards watchdog to curb the excesses of such greedy parasites. The government should further protect our more vulnerable folk - infirm pensioners, people with disabilities, unwaged families, etc - by increasing tax-free allowances.
Posted by Ian Soady, 09:25, Thu 14 November 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
Well said Roger. I have been a Co-op bank customer (and, as I had naively thought, as a Co-op member having some limited influence) and was horrified by the bland and dismissive response I had when I complained about the then proposed Project Verde. I am ashamed that I recommended the bank to friends and colleagues.
I am now moving all my accounts to Nationwide, which although itself not perfect is at least a mutual.
Posted by Colin, 09:34, Thu 14 November 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
The Co-op bank story is a perfect analogy for what happened to the Labour party & its capture & subversion by champagne socialists. Like the founding fathers of the Co-op, the original Labour party members must also be spinning in their graves at what has become of their party & our country.