> Why isn't a firm carving out the "niche" of not being assholes Well here in the UK one was claiming to be - the Co Op Bank. Ethical investing policy, mutual

> Why isn't a firm carving out the "niche" of not being assholes Well here in the UK one was claiming to be - the Co Op Bank. Ethical investing policy, mutual rather than floated on the stockmarket, and so forth. Not even based in London so hopefully free of any city groupthink. Also behind smile, one of the first online banks. £1.5bn bailout, forced into flotation with no benefit for mutual members, and turns out their ethics policies didn't stop them playing the same games as all the rest. (Bailout stemmed from them trying to takeover another failing bank, but they didn't realise they didn't have the money. Um, OK, a bank that can't add up). That's as well as being left holding tons of bad investments and loans. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/11/co-op-bank-spared-fine-but-individuals-remain-under-investigation-says-fca http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/11/co-op-bank-s... Other mutuals here were just as keen to play the big boy games. Same for share dealing and investment funds. So where can a customer that gives a damn put his money? How can that customer have any confidence at all that they'll be honest, ethical, solvent and numerate? I see no choice at all on any of those measures.