http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/bus
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22932330
Quote:
The Co-operative Bank has unveiled a rescue plan to tackle the £1.5bn hole in its balance sheet.Most of the capital to be used to plug the hole will come through a "bail in" – a process where bond holders will be offered shares in the bank.The deal will result in a stock market listing for the group.
Robert Peston notes:
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That said, many will argue that the culture and practices of the bank are bound to change once its shares are owned by commercial investors – even though the Co-op Group will retain a controlling majority stake in the bank.[…]Co-op Group says the bank will henceforth concentrate on providing banking services to individuals and small businesses, and will pull out of banking for "larger corporate and commercial customers with complex product and servicing requirements".In general, the bank will be more focussed on making profits because of the "need to generate an appropriate return on equity".
Although, the point is, that the bank has always focused on making a profit, that's what co-ops do: it's just a question of who gets the profit. The capital is in the hands of the capitalists, and the bank needs capital to keep going.