Our financial abuse campaign

Our values and ethics have always been more than words on paper. They underpin how we run our business. The Co-operative Bank remains the only High Street bank in the UK to have a customer-led Ethical Policy and we have a proud history of campaigning on issues we know our customers care about.

When we extended our Ethical Policy in 2015, our customers told us that they wanted to see the Bank return to campaigning, to address issues and causes where we can help to make a difference. We’ve updated our Ethical Policy again in 2022 to help show even more clearly how we’re helping people.

Read more about our Ethical Policy.

Why are we campaigning?

Although a little known issue, financial abuse in intimate relationships is widespread and its impacts are far reaching. We wanted to better understand the issue and the role banks could play in supporting survivors so we formed a partnership with Refuge, the national domestic abuse charity.

Together, we approached Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs OBE from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Metropolitan University and commissioned a new research report into the issue: Money Matters – research into the extent and nature of financial abuse in relationships in the UK.

Our aim is to lift the lid on the issue, increase understanding and identify ways in which banks can make changes to help victims.

What are we campaigning for?

We made a series of recommendations on how the banking sector could positively support the victims of financial abuse in relationships.

We are committed to acting on these recommendations by working to positively support victims of financial abuse and working with the banking industry in an effort to:

• Develop a code of practice to guide financial institutions so there is consistent response to the disclosure of intimate partner financial abuse
• Develop materials for customers to raise awareness of and guidance about how to recognise and cope with financial abuse in relationships
• Train staff to respond appropriately and create referral pathways to specialist support
• Develop a system where victims who need to report this kind of abuse don’t need to tell their story repeatedly, which can be traumatic.

We’re asking our customers to support the campaign by raising awareness of this little known issue. Women, who are the main victims of financial abuse in relationships, are least likely to inform their bank. Our customers should feel able to talk to us and be referred to the relevant support organisations for help.

The impact of financial abuse in relationships can be long-lasting and is a barrier to many survivors being able to rebuild their lives. Our campaigns aim to help give control back to economic abuse survivors so they can move forward.

Natalie’s story

Natalie met her husband Guy in 2002. They were together for nine and a half years.

Natalie began to notice something may not quite be right around the time they became engaged, a year into the relationship. At this point, her partner had bad moods but Natalie still had her own home to escape them for a few days. But when they moved away from her hometown, the abuse she experienced escalated.

Natalie’s partner:

• Put pressure on her to put money in their joint account
• Took money out of the joint account, or withheld money from it, so that they would go into overdraft
• Blamed her when they went into overdraft and forced her to find a way to pay for things
• Withheld financial information from her, didn’t inform her if he got a tax rebate and was deceptive about how he was spending money.

Natalie eventually reported the abuse she experienced to the police and was put in touch with a Refuge outreach worker who supported her to leave and divorce her partner.

Know economic abuse

We have again partnered with Refuge to conduct a new study into the extent of economic abuse in the UK in 2020 with our ‘Know economic abuse’ campaign.

Read the findings

What is economic abuse?

Economic abuse is a form of domestic abuse. It occurs when an abuser restricts a person’s ability to acquire, use and maintain money or other economic resources.

Find out more