10 years of cheer at Co-op Bank

STAFF at the Co-operative Bank are in line for another annual bonus approaching last year's £2000 a head after the mutually-owned, ethically-driven bank unveiled a rise in profits for the tenth year running.

The bonus paid out to the 4300 employees around the country may be slightly smaller than last year's when it is announced tomorrow but that is a reflection of how fast the bank has been growing and how many more staff it has taken on in the past 12 months.

The group, which is part of the wider Co-op Financial Services, has recruited another 500 staff to its call centres in the North-West with a promise that it will not be outsourcing services to India.

Growth was also driven by its award-winning internet banking arm, smile, which launched a new current account and credit card during the year.

Chief executive Mervyn Pedelty said: 'We have been delighted by messages of support from our customers and the general public alike since we announced that we have no intention of outsourcing our front-line customer contact services to overseas call centres.

'CFS is now on course to achieve the objective of ensuring that its seven million customers are offered a much broader range of financial services.'

Pre-tax profits at the bank rose by 6.2% to £130m with bad debt charges cut by 10% to £63m during 2003.

Customer retail deposits were 12% or £680m higher at £6.16bn.