Britannia, Co-op to merge to create "super-mutual"Two of Britain's biggest customer-owned banks announced on Wednesday they would merge to create a "super-mutual" with 70 billion pounds in assets. Britannia Building Society Overview One of the major UK mutual building societies remaining today is the Britannia Building Society, with headquarters in Staffordshire, England. Britannia is the second largest building society in the United Kingdom based on total assets of £35 billion at 31 and Co-operative Financial Services Co-operative Financial Services Limited is a Co-operative Society providing financial services within the United Kingdom. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Co-operative Group which is the largest consumer co-operative and sixth-largest food retailer in the UK. have agreed the deal which will create a business with nine million customers and more than 300 branches. The move comes amid crisis in the financial sector and just days after the government launched a second bank bailout programme worth tens of billions of pounds. The bailout failed to stop shares in the country's biggest banks, including the Royal Rank of Scotland which is 70 percent owned by the state, sliding amid concerns about the solvency of lenders reeling from the financial crisis. The new business would provide an "unique, ethical alternative to shareholder - and Government - owned banks," they said in a joint statement said. The merged company will take on a single brand name only after a process of integration, which is expected to last up to three years. Some branches would be merged but there would be no forced redundancy of staff, the statement said. Britannia, the second largest building society in Britain with nearly three million customers, will become a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of the Co-operative Group in the merger. Britannia's members will need to approve the deal at a general meeting, expected to be held on April 29. The statement said the new company would seek to expand lending. "Owing to owing to prep. Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness. owing to prep → debido a, por causa de the damage done by the credit crunch Credit Crunch An economic condition whereby investment capital is difficult to obtain. Banks and investors become weary of lending funds to corporations thereby driving up the price of debt products for borrowers. , people have been crying out for a new way of doing business with a financial organisation Noun 1. financial organisation - an institution (public or private) that collects funds (from the public or other institutions) and invests them in financial assets financial institution, financial organization of substance that truly has their interests at heart," said Co-op Financial Services CO-OP Financial Services, formerly known as CO-OP Network, is an interbank network connecting the ATMs of credit unions in the United States, with locations also in Canada and certain United States Navy bases overseas. It is the largest credit union-owned interbank network. chief executive David Anderson. "This merger will create that organisation and we'd hope to attract many thousands of new customers as a result." The combined business will still be smaller than that of Nationwide - Britain's largest building society. 
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