The struggling bank, the only UK bank to fail a stress test from the regulator last year, reported a £204.2m loss before tax, £127.2m higher than the previous year’s first-half losses.
The CEO also warned that the bank’s recovery from its near-collapse in 2013, which stemmed from bad commercial real estate loans, remained challenging.
Co-Op chief executive Niall Booker said the bank was unlikely to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) until its turnaround was more advanced.
“Addressing legacy issues will continue to dominate financial performance for some time and there is considerable work ahead towards a full recovery,” he said.
The 2013 crisis with the bank on the brink of collapse led to bondholders taking an 80% stake in the bank, with long-time owner, the mutual Co-operative Group, relegated to a minority holding with 20%.
Booker said the bank spoke to challenger banks from time to time about the prospect of consolidation and explained the losses as a reflection of reduced income, losses on the sale of assets and the rising cost of turning the business around.
Meanwhile, the bank said it would continue to focus on its mortgage business in the second half of the year but added that the market was becoming increasingly competitive. It said net growth continued to be impacted by the run off from Standard Variable Rate products and people taking advantage of rising house prices giving a higher level of equity to use to refinance.
The bank explained its renewed focus and appetite helped drive rising mortgage completions to £1,084m in the first six months of 2015 against £921.0m in the last six months of 2014.
It said intermediaries accounted for 88% of its retail mortgage completions.
