Co-op plunges further into chaos after boss quits

Co-op has been plunged into further chaos after its boss Euan Sutherland quit after just 10 months in the job.

Sutherland claimed his efforts to overhaul the business had been undermined by a high-level leak of his £3.6 million pay deal.

The chaos at group level comes not long after the business scrapped plans to sell its long-suffering general insuance unit.

According to reports, in his resignation letter to group chairman Ursula Lidbetter yesterday he also claimed the business had become “ungovernable”.

This is the latest round of trouble to hit the bank after the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) announced in January they were starting enforcement investigations into the Co-op Bank.

The PRA said the investigation would include looking at the actions of previous senior managers.

The bank made some positive steps to recover its business reputation after it announced its intention to cancel the sale of its general insurance business in January because to retain its strong business and develop it further.

Co-op had been trying to find a buyer for its general insurance arm to plug a £1.5bn black hole in its bank’s balance sheet.

The Co-op Group has been embroiled in controversies that have damaged its reputation, including revelations about the drug-taking ex-chairman Paul Flowers and the collapse of its purchase of 632 Lloyd’s bank branches.