A message from our CEO to our business customers

This is a challenging time for business and we are conscious of the needs of our business customers, including the many social enterprises, charities and co-operatives who choose to bank with us. Working co-operatively will be key to tackling the coronavirus outbreak and we are here to support you. In addition, in these challenging times, UK banks and building societies have agreed to coordinate with each other to provide critical services to firms, clients and customers across the UK and we have committed to being part of this collaborative approach. Our focus will be to ensure we provide the support you need in relation to your banking requirements.

The UK Government has already announced a welcome and significant amount of financial support for SME and I wanted to share with you the plans we have put in place to help support you and your business including;

• Providing overdraft and loan facilities (with capital repayment holidays where appropriate) in order to support working capital and cash flow requirements (subject to status and eligibility). T&Cs apply.
• Waiving overdraft and loan arrangement fees until further notice specifically for those key business sectors that are directly impacted by the coronavirus (subject to status and eligibility). T&Cs apply.
• The launch of our new Business Exchange with access to a range of comprehensive online resources created by leading experts and preferred third parties featuring; coronavirus support, interactive cyber fraud prevention training and payment solution propositions though merchant service provider First Data.

Our online and telephone banking services remain the easiest way for your business to carry out your banking needs.

• If you need to register for online banking visit: co-operativebank.co.uk/business/online-banking/how-to-register
• To re-activate online access please call: 03457 213 213*. Call charges

We also know that fraudsters may seek to take advantage of this opportunity, so please be aware of potential scams that could occur as a result of this situation. Be vigilant to phone calls out of the blue. The Co-operative Bank will never contact you for your security information or token codes and we will never ask you to move your money to another account to keep it safe. Be aware of invoice redirection scams, if you receive an email that includes bank account details or a change of bank account details to make a payment to, always contact the company on a trusted number to verify the request and to confirm the account details before sending any money. Avoid clicking on attachments or links within emails or texts if you do not recognise the sender.

We will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation and will contact you should we have any important updates to share. Please continue to visit our website co-operativebank.co.uk/business and follow us on our social media pages for the latest information.

We would encourage all our customers and their employees to follow the national guidelines on staying healthy, and protecting the health of others in our communities at this time. For further information visit www.gov.uk

Stay safe and look after each other, and please remember we are here to help.

Andrew Bester

Chief Executive, The Co-operative Bank