Co-Op shareholders look set to lose out after a change in Government rules.

People holding shares in the Colchester and East Essex Co-operative Society will no longer be paid interest on share balances below £20.

From January 23, interest payable on share account balances of £20 or more will be 3.25 per cent gross of the whole balance.

Members have to own a minimum £1 shareholding in the society.

The Treasury has told the Co-operative Union the amount of withdrawable share capital within the Co-operative Movement should be reduced.

And the Co-operative Union has decided the most effective way of achieving this is to cut the amount of interest payable on share accounts.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.