Co-operative Bank's losses nearly treble in first half of 2015

Britain's Co-operative Bank reported a near trebling of its losses in the first half of 2015 on Thursday, reflecting reduced income, losses on the sale of assets and the rising cost of turning the business around.
The bank is trying to recover from its near-collapse in 2013, when it reported a 1.5 billion pound hole in its finances stemming from bad commercial real estate loans. It later suffered an exodus of top executives including former Chairman Paul Flowers, who left the bank following a drugs scandal.
The crisis saw bondholders take control of the bank, with its long-time owner, the mutual Co-operative Group, relegated to a minority holding.
The bank, which was the only UK lender to fail a stress test by Britain's financial regulator last year, said it made a loss of 204 million pounds ($320 million) in the first half, compared with a 77 million loss in the same period the year before.
It booked a 38 million pound loss on asset sales, and saw an increase in costs relating to its turnaround rise to 102 million pounds, on the back of investment in its systems and processes.