Apart from the shocking state of the Co-op/Smile IT, I’ve always thought it interesting Smile wasn’t utilised as the only brand. Would’ve distanced the bank away from the ‘Crystal Methodist, no one on the board was a banker’ PR fiasco.
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Yes, I think they thought at the time that overtly linking the bank to the (generally well-regarded) food shops was important. That was at the time when they still owned a significant stake in the bank, of course.
Later I believe they could have ditched it but the brand was once again generally thought of favourably by those customers loyal enough to have stayed and there must have been a decision not to rock the boat. There was also good awareness of the ethical policy but that awareness was tied to the main brand.
All of that seemed to add up to a decision to double-down on the main brand as a primary focus and to allow Smile to fade away. It had been high profile in the early 2000s but marketing of Smile had already been reduced before the Flowers scandal, presumably as “digital” became less of a selling point.
I think they must have decided that awareness of Smile was low and it was a fairly weak and generic brand, so best not to rebrand to it. Also they were repeatedly looking to sell the bank to another bank, so wasting money on rebranding was probably seen as unnecessary if they were going to (eventually) rebrand anyway.
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Looks like another potential sale attempt is on the horizon.
Shawbrook Bank and Paragon are 2 names linked to the possible sale.
I don’t think there is much of that, is there?
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It’s sad, because prior to the 2017 lose of control by the Co Op, they were a really decent bank, with a strong ethos. We’re really only left with Nationwide and the small building societies as something a bit different
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Triodos? Handelsbanken? Starling?
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In terms of ownership (yes yes it was a PLC but in the hands of the co op) and what it’s there for.
I never knew Boden and McPike were all about being a mutual or ethics with Starling
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Well the Co-op is famously owned by an American hedge fund these days, so that’s gone. What ethics criteria do you want to rate Co-op vs. Starling on?
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As I said previously 
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