Sheffield City Council changing banks

[bungleboy69]

Just received a letter from Sheffield City Council regarding business rates, advising that they are changing banks from The Co-operative to Barclays.

This really surprises me. Leaving the Co-op I can understand, they have had some problems recently with capital etc and ownership, but why Barclays?? One of the most unethical banks in this country...

I would have thought someone more like Unity bank would have been more appropriate. I wonder if the councillors have had any input into this??

[Solomon1]

Just received a letter from Sheffield City Council regarding business rates, advising that they are changing banks from The Co-operative to Barclays.

This really surprises me. Leaving the Co-op I can understand, they have had some problems recently with capital etc and ownership, but why Barclays?? One of the most unethical banks in this country...

I would have thought someone more like Unity bank would have been more appropriate. I wonder if the councillors have had any input into this??

 

Oh this is taking the ****!!

 

SCC are totally losing it

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Leaving the Co-op I can understand, they have had some problems recently with capital etc and ownership

That's putting it mildly!

[ECCOnoob]

Just received a letter from Sheffield City Council regarding business rates, advising that they are changing banks from The Co-operative to Barclays.

This really surprises me. Leaving the Co-op I can understand, they have had some problems recently with capital etc and ownership, but why Barclays?? One of the most unethical banks in this country...

I would have thought someone more like Unity bank would have been more appropriate. I wonder if the councillors have had any input into this??

 

Firstly Unity bank is part owned by the Coop (albeit currently up for sale). A majority stake is owned by several trade unions. That to me sits as very uncomfortable position for a majority union owned bank to be in trust of finances from a Government Organisation.

 

A combination of the dented Coop and trade union egos. I certainly would not be happy about that.

 

As for the rest of your post I don't really know why you have singled out Barclays in such a way. Yes, they had a few scandals but nothing more than any of the others. They didn't have any bailout. They did not have anything like the RBS levels of fraud and incompetence. They are not costing the taxpayers billons of pounds unlike Lloyds BG.

 

Morally no bank is ever going to cut it as a squeaky clean reputation but to be honest, like most businesses, banks don't make money out of being moral. LEGAL is all they aim for.

 

That no doubt leaves a bitter taste with some people but at the end of the day they have to bank with someone. I would rather it be with an established, well grounded bank like Barclays or HSBC rather than some unknown and untested ego project like Unity or some dying horse like RBS.

[vincentb]

As for the rest of your post I don't really know why you have singled out Barclays in such a way. Yes, they had a few scandals but nothing more than any of the others. They didn't have any bailout. They did not have anything like the RBS levels of fraud and incompetence. They are not costing the taxpayers billons of pounds unlike Lloyds BG.

 

Morally no bank is ever going to cut it as a squeaky clean reputation but to be honest, like most businesses, banks don't make money out of being moral. LEGAL is all they aim for.

 

Legal is all they aim for? That's a pretty harsh putdown - most organisations I've known have set themselves a much higher standard than bare legality. As a customer, I wouldn't want to put my business with any firm that is so bottom-rung.

 

But Barclays seem to have their sights even lower, at what they might be able to get away with whether legal or not. In an industry which studies have found to be less ethical than any other (study in Nature), Barclays seems to be just about the worst offender e.g. see City shamed again where they have more investigations against them than any other bank.

[BHRemovals]

councillors have input into nothing the ceo decides everything

[Bludragonfly]

At least Barclays didn't take millions from the taxpayer in the collapse of the banks

 

 

Rotherham Council have just changed from the Co-Op to NatWest

[The Joker]

Perhaps the new bank pay a higher / charge a lower rate of interest than other banks, or is that too simplistic?

[Narden Dee]

This may explain why the council no longer uses the Co-Op

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10437100/Co-op-axes-banking-services-to-local-authorities.html

[Localman]

This may explain why the council no longer uses the Co-Op

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10437100/Co-op-axes-banking-services-to-local-authorities.html

 

Quite. It's disappointing that some people - see above - could speculate so incorrectly.

 

Twenty years ago, I was advising the Cooperative Bank on the implementation of its then business strategy, which included securing a high market share in the local authority sector. It did so, winning business with the new unitary authorities in the local government organisation at that time.

 

Like many people, I suspect, I have been appalled by the incompetent management of the bank in recent years, especially in respect of the complete failure of due diligence during its take-over of other financial institutions.

 

In the light of the Coop's current financial position, it was inevitable that all parts of the business would be examined for future viability and the demands it might put on the capital requirements. Whether that decision is right remains to be seen.