Coventry Building Society tables bid for Co-operative Bank

[WillPS]

@Wobble

remember stating at the time that it was very shortsighted of Coventry Building Society to ditch current accounts & that they would come to regret it in year’s to come…well here we are!!

They’ve bought a provider with current accounts. The provider has a crap platform, but still a better one than Coventry had.

I’m not sure why closing their current account (ish) offer would now be a source of regret for them, it would have added a tiny amount of customers relative to the amount they’re acquiring.

@arnie7

I said at the time that I believe Yorkshire will either wither away or be taken over if they dropped the ATM cards.

Bit dramatic, they’re reporting their best ever results with them no?

@arnie7

Basically they’re just an internet bank for most people now

I don’t understand your logic. They have hundreds of branches, second only to Nationwide among building societies. They also have more agencies than anyone else.

With an ATM card, you could access cash directly without ever visiting a branch/branch. Without an ATM card offer, the only way to get that cash is now to use one of those branches. How does that make them more of an internet bank?

Same for the N&P offer, since the only branch access was via N&P, unless you lived in East Anglia you were using that via internet banking… removing that offer made them more of a traditional bricks and mortar ‘savings and mortgages’ building society, not more of an internet bank, surely?

@arnie7

They’d need to take over TSB or maybe the Cumberland to get back into banking.

Cumberland’s offer is not great and their market share (even in Cumberland) is tiny, they’d probably be just as good pulling the mothballs off N&P’s offer and/or starting again.

TSB would be a great target if they can afford it; have they got a spare 4 or 5 bn for them tho?

YBS have been much better about handing out handing out eyecatching interest rates than Nationwide; perhaps their surplus isn’t quite in the ‘bank buying’ territory.

[arnie7]

@WillPS

YBS have been much better about handing out handing out eyecatching interest rates

Yes, but with an awful lot of restrictions to get those high rates. Pure internet places offer similar rates without the restrictions.

If you have a nearby branch, it’s brick & mortar. For those of us in areas where they closed all their branches and agencies, it’s essentially an internet outfit. In those areas it doesn’t match what you can get from a pure online place.

[WillPS]

@arnie7

If you have a nearby branch, it’s brick & mortar. For those of us in areas where they closed all their branches and agencies, it’s essentially an internet outfit. In those areas it doesn’t match what you can get from a pure online place.

Still not sure I follow your logic. A card you can use in an ATM for withdrawals doesn’t make something not an internet/digital bank - unless you’re including Monzo, Starling, Kroo, First Direct, Smile…

[arnie7]

I know what you’re saying but, for me, removing ATM access was a major league downgrade. Net effect is that I compare them against pure internet places. And they have consistently lost.

Basically the difference is that previously I could just lift the money out right away if I needed it, now I can’t and would have to transfer it somewhere else first. In practice, I’ve made the transfer and largely don’t use them.