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In all the finger-pointing about the moral turpitude and defective judgement of the mainstream banks, we’ve heard mighty little about the banks that aren’t being bailed out or (as with Barclays) are desperately seeking new capital from China or the Middle East. So let’s just celebrate for a moment the inspiring success of the Co-op Bank (and indeed the whole Co-op Group). To be sure, the credit crunch is also having an impact on them, but nothing like in the same business-threatening way as for the big banks.

At the very least, the relative resilience of this business model should prompt both Treasury and the sector’s regulators to think again about alternative ownership and governance structures in the financial services sector. Astonishingly, the default response from government ministers at the moment is simply to patch things up as fast as possible and re-regulate if necessary – although I think it’s fair to say that if Adair Turner – the new boss of the FSA – gets his way, then we might see a rather heavier hand than the light touch that has been preferred up until now.

But if ever there was a time to re-think the governance structures of the industry as a whole, and to promote the self-evident benefits of mutuals (the Nationwide must surely be feeling just a little bit pleased with themselves at the moment!), co-operatives and smaller ethical banks like Triodos, this has to be it.

So it’s a great time for the Co-op as the leading advocate of this kind of ethical approach to come out fighting. Although I had heard that the Bank had a TV ad in preparation, it was just brilliant to see it out there last week, playing into people’s deep anger at the cataclysm that the erstwhile “Masters of the Universe” have inflicted on the world, and into their understandable concern about their own financial situations.

For completely different reasons, I was equally delighted to see the Co-op’s latest adverts in the papers telling people about their forest offset scheme – an area of replanted rainforest the size of 324 football pitches. Right from the start, the Co-op has always argued that offsetting is a critically important part of any integrated carbon management strategy – do the efficiency bit, flat out, then do the renewables bit, flat out, and then do the offset bit flat out as well.

Whatever you may think about forest-based offsets, it’s really important to hear more of that kind of voice. Whether or not they’ve thought it through, the direct consequence of some of the NGOs drip-dripping their corrosive cynicism over any and every mention of offsets is that most people are either deeply confused or deeply suspicious of offset schemes in the private sector – even the best of them. This is so damaging. It’s impossible to promote best practice (as in “Gold Standard”, properly verified and audited offsets) by trashing the very idea of offsets in principle.

The Co-op’s message to the NGOs is a simple one: wise up, guys. If you’re more concerned about maintaining your purist image than you are about getting some really good stuff going on the ground (that does, in however small a way, contribute to a lower-carbon world), then you’re doing nobody any favours.

That’s the kind of eye-poking stuff you can get away with when you’re the UK’s most trusted bank!