Consumers

The Co-operative Bank's reputation as one of the leaders in social reporting, recognised in many awards over recent years, is built on its structured, objectives-based approach with performance measures and targets. This year's report has pushed practice forward again, presenting in more detail the benefits of its ethical stance and accounting for the costs too, in terms of business lost. Based on surveys of personal customers, a quarter of its profits (24%) is attributed to social responsibility.

Understandably, the bank needs to protect that reputation and publicly turning down business is one way - worth some £4m wholly from the commercial sector. But is there a moral difference between a business earning from environmentally damaging processes or weapons manufacturing (symbolically rejected) and an individual employee of the same firm wishing to deposit his/her pay cheque (welcomed as a valued customer)? Cynics say The Co-operative Bank's stance is an elaborate marketing ploy. They would be assuaged if the Bank sought to vet personal customers, checked how they make their money and rejected those found wanting. Tough, but logical.