The Co-op relaunches membership points scheme

The Co-operative is relaunching its membership points scheme for banking and insurance products, offering members greater rewards for their loyalty.

The new scheme offers a simpler mechanism for rewarding members who use The Co-operative Bank and The Co-operative Insurance, by allocating a set number of membership points per product held.

Approximately two thirds of members with Banking Group products should receive a greater number of points as a result of the new scheme, which rewards relationships by offering customers who hold products, such as current accounts, a greater point value.  This replaces the previous approach where points were predominantly allocated on an account balance basis.

The new reward points system launches on January 1 2013 with dividends due to be paid out twice yearly in June and November. The first reward payments based on the new scheme will be paid in November 2013, with members benefiting from exclusive member offers throughout the year.

Members also benefit from special discounts and are encouraged to support the Group's corporate social responsibility agenda and collectively assert pressure for change on a range of contemporary issues such as, inspiring young people where we want to help bring about a cultural shift in the way that young people are viewed and treated in the UK, and social exclusion. Members can also get involved in the democratic governance structure of The Co-operative and have a say in how the business is run.

Barry Tootell, Acting Chief Executive at The Co-operative Banking Group, comments:  "We have listened to and acted on feedback from our banking and insurance members who said they would like a simpler, more transparent system for how membership points are allocated across our financial products.

"The new membership points scheme will enable us to offer a simple reward proposition to our members, across a comprehensive range of financial products.

"This new approach rewards relationships. Therefore members who hold financial relationship products such as current accounts, where custom is generally longer term, will receive a higher value of points.

"Membership sits right at the heart of The Co-operative Group, with members collectively owning the business.  Consumers are crying out for an alternative to the big banks, and our unique ownership structure, whereby we are owned by our members, gives us a different model to other banks, which allows us to approach a longer term view to the way we carry out banking."

To become a Co-operative Member you can apply online at co-operative.coop/membership/