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Opening a bank account in prison may help lower the rate of re-offending, a study has revealed.

Early results from a two-year pilot scheme, which enable offenders to open a Co-operative Bank account while in prison, appears to be having a positive effect, the bank said.

A report into the scheme by Paul Jones of Liverpool John Moores University found in the first two years of the project, which began at Forest Bank Prison, Salford, in 2006, 256 prisoners have opened accounts with the Co-operative Bank while serving their sentences.

Of those, 193 have been released and only 72 have since returned to prison.

The Co-operative Bank has now accepted applications from 28 other prisons bringing the total of accounts opened, since the scheme began, to 1,392.

Mr Jones said: "It is clear that bank accounts are an important element in enabling ex-prisoners to become valuable members of society and other banks should now consider copying the excellent pioneering work carried out by the Co-operative Bank."

An ex-offender told the researchers: "It is hard to explain, I felt better me when I got the bank account, you've got something, I felt better inside. I can't wait to get my wages paid in."

The chief executive of The Co-operative Bank, David Anderson, added: "We understand that access to employment and housing are extremely important factors in reducing the risk of re-offending but these can only be obtained if ex-offenders have bank accounts."