Ethical and community values are increasingly important to customers when they are choosing financial products, the Building Societies Association (BSA) has claimed.

And according to Rachel Le Brocq, press and public affairs manager at the BSA, building societies and mutuals are well-placed to capitalise on this.

"Community is very important to building societies and mutuals and looking after their local communities as well as the overall ethics side of things. They take pride in supporting their local causes," she said.

"Building and societies and mutuals are in a really good position to serve their customers and their members better than some of the PLC banks do."

She explained that such firms are not driven by the pressure to deliver maximum profits in the same way as the banks, meaning they can run on lower costs and offer better service levels.

She was commenting after the Co-operative announced its interim results for 2010, with Co-operative Financial Services showing a 34.3 per cent increase in profits.

In a statement, the company firmly positioned itself as an alternative to the banks claiming that "as UK consumers increasingly question the financial services 'status quo'", its member-owned, customer-led and ethically-guided business model is highly admired.

Posted by Steve Williams