Subject to final terms, the approval of the Bank's board, and regulatory approval, the deal would be worth up to £325m over 10 years and is anticipated to start in the first quarter of 2015.
Under the terms of the deal, one of the largest in a decade if agreed, comprising more than 250,000 mortgage customers and £23bn of lending, Capita would take over and transform The Co-operative Bank's mortgage servicing operations in Leek in Staffordshire and Plymouth. It would install new systems - designed to drive efficiency while simplifying business processes in a regulated environment - to improve the experience for The Co-operative Bank's customers and support business growth.
As part of the deal Capita would acquire the people and assets of Western Mortgage Services Limited, The Co-operative Bank's mortgage administration business.
Andy Parker, Capita Chief Executive, said:
"Retail banking is facing unprecedented business and regulatory challenges and Capita is therefore focusing strongly on developing capacity to support this market. We have recently acquired Crown Mortgage Management (now Capita Mortgage Services) and can draw upon our existing and wide ranging commercial debt-servicing capabilities and our heritage of large scale customer service transformation across a range of industries facing similar challenges. Capita would work with The Co-operative Bank to deliver an enhanced service for customers, by, for example, using analytics and insight to give them the experience they want and expect from their mortgage provider.
"Capita's ambition is to draw on its business process and customer service transformation expertise to become the leading end-to-end mortgage processing partner delivering real value to financial services clients."
Niall Booker, Chief Executive at The Co-operative Bank, said:
"Our aim is to become a more efficient bank that is better placed to serve our individual and SME customers, with values and ethics at the heart of everything we do. Developing our core retail mortgage business is a key part of this strategy.
"It is vital we improve our processes, consolidate and utilise up to date mortgage systems and, as a smaller bank, ensure we can respond nimbly in a competitive market, mindful of the impact of increased regulation to our cost base.
"These proposals to partner with Capita would support our plans for growth in retail mortgages and would enable us to continue to deliver high standards of service to our customers and brokers."
The Co-operative Bank would transfer around 660 people, technology systems and capabilities to Capita, predominantly in Leek and Plymouth.
Capita will be supported by Unisys and Vertex Financial Services, providing servicing and mortgage origination platforms respectively.
