Co op Bank reports pre tax loss

The fortunes of the Co-operative Bank continue to be mixed as the company reported a substantial decline in pre-tax revenues but is looking to a brighter future.

The Co-op Bank made a loss of £75.8 million for the first half 2014 and while the figure is worrying it was an improvement on the £844.6 million loss reported in the same period 12 months earlier. Despite the negative financial results, the bank is optimistic about the future and believes that it is making small steps on the road to recovery.

It has been a turbulent past year for the Co-op Bank which has had to reduce its workforce by 13 per cent in the opening six months of 2014. The bank announced earlier in the year that it made a £1.3 billion loss during 2013 which had put it on the brink of collapse. It managed to survive after discovering a £1.5 billion capital shortfall in its accounts.

The raising of this money allowed the Co-op Bank reach a deal with the wider Co-op Group which saw the latter cede ownership to bondholder, including a number of US hedge funds. The move has allowed the bank to keep operating and it is confident of recording a full-year profit by 2016.

Niall Booker, the Co-op Bank's chief executive, said: "Considering the scale of the challenge we faced a year ago we are encouraged by the progress made to ensure the stability of the bank.  

"Transforming the organisation into a viable and profitable business which generates capital in the long term still requires significant change – both operationally and culturally.

In May, the Co-op Bank announced that it would selling a 30 per cent stake in its operations to help shore up its finances. The move was designed to give the shareholders that rescued it from the brink of collapse to be given more power.

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