The Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial services have agreed a merger forming what has been described by the two as a ’super mutual’. The new business will be a subsidary of The Co-operative group with Britannia members becoming Co-op members.
The two mutuals have promised that there will be no compulsory redundancies, should the merger go ahead, however some branches may close if they are too close to one another. The deal will have to be approved by Britannia members and the integration of the two will take three years to complete.
The deal however hinges on a new law being passed in March, that will allow mergers between mutuals.
If it goes ahead the merged business will have nine million customers, with over 300 branches in the UK and 12,000 employees.
Britannia said in a statement the merger would “create a super-mutual as a unique, ethical alternative to shareholder- and government-owned banks.”
Co-operative Financial Services added: “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.”
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