Britannia Merger YES vote result

[arcsmember]

88% of savers and 86% of borrowers voting YES is a higher percentage than various articles in the media would have you believe it was likely to be.
Pleased it has gone ahead. Just need to wait and see whether this will get a positive spin in the media or made to sound like "yet more trouble" for banks or something.

[dcorking]

I looked in Google News and found very little coverage.

Only 3 mainstream press pieces popped up (though not all outlets publish in Google News)

• FT
• BBC
• Scotsman (very brief)

The only negativity, and a mere hint at that, was in the BBC article:

Funds will be safe even if savers put up to £50,000 in a Britannia account and up to £50,000 in a Co-op account after the merger. The whole issue of deposit protection is being reviewed by the Financial Services Authority.

That is a fair point.

A local paper in Staffordshire (Britannia's home) has a gushing article and an opinionated but positive leader. I agree with The Sentinel leader when it says

But make no mistake ... this is a merger dictated by market forces.

An article about rescues in The Times mentions the merger. It was hard to avoid mentioning it, but there is a hint of guilt by association with rescues. I don't suspect for a moment that this merger is a rescue, but readers of that article might.

Yesterday, The Mail wrote: "In another development, Co-op Bank, which is merging with Britannia Building Society, has announced it will allow first-time buyers to use the income of a relative or close family friend to guarantee their repayments." I agree that this is more interesting news than the successful vote on Wednesday,

With 9 million customers affected, a few more papers might have bothered to mention the Yes vote.