The Co-operative Group has announced the Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) and the society’s other trading businesses will come together under a new structure in order to better unify the business and increase cross selling opportunities between the different businesses.

Under the reshuffle, CFS Chief Executive Neville Richardson will report to Group Chief Executive Peter Marks. In addition, Richardson and Martyn Wates - currently Group Chief Financial Officer - will become joint Deputy Group Chief Executives.

Speaking to the Co-operative News, Co-operative Group Chair Len Wardle said: “Over the last three years we have transformed the group, both commercially and co-operatively. We have doubled our sales and profits and increased our investment in supporting our social goals. We are now going a stage further, with this long overdue coming together of our trading and financial services businesses.”

He continued, “The progress we make over the next few years in unifying our brand by creating and promoting opportunities for our members to trade across all of our businesses is of critical importance to the group’s continuing growth and prosperity.”

Peter Marks, Group Chief Executive added: “We already have almost six million members, double the number we had three years ago. But, it’s still 14 million less than where I want us to be in ten years time.”