Peterborough: home of the ethically aware

The Co-operative Bank has declared the town of Peterborough – home of such financial rivals as Pearl Assurance and Norwich & Peterborough building society – is Britain's most ethically minded community.

A survey of the bank's customers showed the people of Peterborough exhibited the greatest enthusiasm for ethical issues, pipping Oxford and Manchester. London came seventh, Leicester was tenth.

Simon Williams, a bank spokesman, said: "We are famous for asking our customers what we should do with their money. This is the fourth time in 10 years we've asked our customers to vote on ethical issues and, this year, we've had a record number of responses. Our research shows people are generally more supportive of our ethical stance than ever before, giving us an overwhelming mandate to maintain our policies."

He added the bank will use the views of its customers to revise its ethical policy, which will be relaunched in May.