Anyone who wants to find out what makes Co-op an ethical bank (including their policies on animal welfare, climate change, social justice, online safety and active promotion of co-operatives and small businesses) can find out more here: www.co-operativebank.co.uk/values-and-e...

So, I'm glad to be hitching my wagon to a bank that is more aligned with my own values. I ought to have made it a priority a bit sooner.

I'd like it known that I have never even been to Colchester. That guy just has the same name as me. I've been called a lot of things but never a "significant risk" to the public. Apparently Santander's due diligence involves a cursory Google search.

Those conversations made it abundantly clear that they had no idea who they were dealing with, so much so that I was sheepishly asked to confirm that I have not been to prison and am not the "crazed gunman" mentioned in a report in the Colchester Gazette in 2008.

Santander, by contrast, were a little more hands-on, but only a little. When I applied for a new business savings account a couple of years back, I had to have two telephone interviews, despite having already had an account with them for more than a decade at that time.

Nowadays, it's all online and my only interaction with Co-op so far has been via a web portal. Fair enough. Helping organisations to use the internet to streamline their business processes is my bread and butter, so I can't very well complain that it lacks the personal touch.

Opening a bank account these days is very different to when we opened our first one in 1999 and I had to put on a suit and have a meeting with an account manager and explain our (let's be honest) wildly optimistic business plan.

I've thought for a long time that we should be moving to the Co-op but changing bank accounts is a faff, isn't it? But Santander forced my hand somewhat by announcing out of the blue that they are "changing" our account, which apparently is a euphemism for charging more money.