Co-op and Britannia to merge

According to recent reports the Co-op and Britannia Building Society have decided to merge. The Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia Building Society have said that there will be no compulsory redundancies made as a result of the merger, although they have said that if branches are too close to one another there may have to be some branch closures.

As a result of the merger members of the Britannia Building Society will actually become Co-op members, and the new merged business will become part of the Co-op group. However, the merger will only take place if approval is given in March to a new law that will allow mergers to take place between mutuals.

It could take three years to complete the deal, and approval will have to be given by Britannia members before it can go ahead. An official from Britannia said: “Customers will be owners and will have available all the services they would expect from a major financial provider, together with a real say in setting strategy combined with a share of the profits.”

An official from Co-op Financial Services said: “Owing to the damage done by the credit crunch, people have been crying out for a new way of doing business with a financial organisation of substance that truly has their interests at heart. This merger will create that organisation and we’d hope to attract many thousands of new customers as a result.”