The Co-operative Bank responds to latest base rate change

The Co-operative Bank has announced its response to the latest reduction in the Bank of England's base rate.

These are:

Main savings products, including Cash ISA, to be maintained at or above 1 per cent, with reductions made of up to 0.25 per cent. This includes reductions of just 0.25 per cent on products which track base rate.

Mortgage SVR to be maintained at 4.74 per cent.

Commenting on the changes, John Barker, Head of Retail Liabilities, said: "As a fully retail funded Bank, we are committed to ensuring that we look after the interests of both savers and borrowers. Clearly, recent base rate cuts have helped ease mortgage repayment pressures, and The Co-operative Bank has consistently passed on interest rate reductions to our mortgage borrowers. However, we have ten times the number of savers compared to mortgage borrowers, and we have a clear duty of care to also look after the interests of these customers too."

"Throughout the recent financial turmoil, The Co-operative Bank has held a position of financial strength and continued to offer customers an extensive range of competitive savings and mortgage products. This decision will help us to maintain that position going forward."

The majority of mortgage customers at The Co-operative Bank do not pay SVR, or have SVR related products. Customers that currently pay SVR are free to switch to any of the Bank's current deals, while those on discount deals already enjoy a reduced rate, and will be able to switch to a new product when their current term finishes.