Lloyds backs credit unions with £4m package

Matt Young, the group corporate affairs director for Lloyds Banking Group, said the bank wanted to enable as many people as possible to access and benefit from financial services.

The plan was unveiled last night at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Credit Unions reception, which was held in Westminster.

Mr Young added: “We see this as a key part of being a responsible business and helping Britain to prosper.”

The Credit Union Growth Plan includes the launch of a £4m fund which will help Credit Unions, over four years, who can demonstrate strong and viable proposals for growth.

The plan also includes a commitment to signpost more customers to credit unions. Lloyds

has already piloted this approach from its branches with the Leeds City Credit Union for six months, which saw around 2,000 Lloyds’ customers take away information about the credit union.

A spokesman said: “It is now scaling up in other parts of the country – initially working with credit unions in up to 20 locations close to employment hubs; strengthen local relationships by increasing the mentoring and support of its colleagues.”

Lloyds has made a commitment to share expertise by seconding two full time colleagues to work on the Credit Union Expansion Project, “enabling the whole credit union sector to scale and serve more people”.

LLoyds is also committed to a policy of collaboration and testing new approaches.

The spokesman said: “It is for this reason that the group is financing the pilot stage of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Church Credit Champions Network which will train at least 300 Credit Champions and generate at least 3,000 additional members of credit unions.

The Economic Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, said yesterday: “Lloyds’ support will be a welcome boost to the efforts of the credit union movement to serve even more people in their communities.”