Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 18, 2017
@ebel @stefanieschulte @mattcropp
I think it was the building societies that demutualised. This was sold to the customers on the claim there was quicker access to money (cheque clearing times went from 10 to 3 days), access to ATMs via magnetic strip cards instead of passbooks etc..
Show threadStefanie SchulteMay 18, 2017

@vfrmedia @ebel @mattcropp This is the story of the UK building societies, to my knowledge: https://www.thenews.coop/85589/sector/big-bang-demutualisation-building-societies-failed/

"Demutualisation was an undoubted failure, as the shareholder owned mortgage banks that resulted all failed."

Show threadStefanie SchulteMay 18, 2017

@mattcropp @ebel @vfrmedia
Furthermore...

"Sensing the opportunity, speculative investors, dubbed ‘carpet-baggers’ opened accounts so they could vote for demutualisation and share the spoils."

https://www.thenews.coop/85589/sector/big-bang-demutualisation-building-societies-failed/

(The term "carpet-bagging" as such is kind of controversial, though, as I learned on Twitter, because of its history in the US.)

Show threadMatt Cropp 🌲🌲

@stefanieschulte @ebel @vfrmedia

Yup, in #UShistory, "carpetbaggers" was a used by southerners during Reconstruction post-Civil War to describe opportunistic northerners coming south. Definitely some problematic racial history to the term.

That said, people entering a #coop or #mutual organization with the intention of advocating for and profiting from #demutualization are some of the lowest form of scum in my book... 😡

May 18, 2017 at 4:55pmWeb