Co-operative Bank       foreword

foreword
               Nineteen ninety seven was a significant year for The Co-operative Bank, as we celebrated our 125th anniversary, and once again made record profits. We also announced to the world our Partnership Approach. With a firm basis in traditional co-operative values, this was, at the same time, a radical departure for us: an attempt to define as clearly as possible a new model for managing a successful business in the 1990s, and beyond.

At the heart of this enterprise lay a commitment to serving the interests not just of shareholders, but of everyone involved in our activities - ourseven Partner groups.
 

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 		      This document, then, is more than a conventional Annual Report, which would be of interest only to shareholders and financial experts. It's a first attempt to provide a detailed and objective assessment of the Bank's performance in relation to all our Partners and our commitment to manage our business in a socially responsible and ecologically sustainable manner. Just as a company's financial results have to be audited by accountants, so the much wider and more complex range of information contained in our Partnership Report requires external verification. To that end, we've opened our doors to a number of independent experts, recognising that their findings might not always make comfortable reading for us.

Of course, we've never claimed to be perfect. Co-operation and Partnership are the principles on which we are committed to building our business. And producing this document represents another important step in putting those principles into practice.