Co-op tweets to allay fears it needs taxpayer support Those plans, like the plans of any bank, will be supervised by our new independent PRA, [the Prudential Regulatory Authority, and in Britain we now have a very strong independent regulatory system that looks at all of our banks including the Co-op and indeed here at the G7 we are going to be talking about what we can do to strengthen international co-ordination and regulation of our financial system. Later this month, the PRA, Britain's banking regulator, is expected to order several lenders to raise new capital. Moody's said it believed the lender could need help from the authorities to fill any capital hole in its balance sheet, warning it saw "moderate potential for systemic support likely to be forthcoming from the UK authorities." In a statement from the bank this morning following the downgrade, it declared its "disappointment" but acknowledged the need to strengthen the bank's capital position. In a separate statement from the mutual this morning, it announced that the chief executive of Co-operative Bank, Barry Tootell, had stepped down. The Co-op, which last month pulled out of a deal to buy 630 branches from Lloyds Banking Group, said he would go immediately and Rod Bulmer would replace him temporarily until a permanent replacement was found.