LONDON–A number of U.K. credit unions have received funds from Lloyds Banking Group. The awards range from £100,000 to £5,800.
Among the recipients: Manchester Credit Union, which received £100,000; Oldham Credit Union, which received £50,000, and South Manchester Credit Union has been given £19,280 and indicated it plans to use the funds for a business development role.
It added that the money will resource the credit union to further extend the reach of services within their local communities.
“As a successful community credit union, we are looking forward to applying our award from Lloyds Banking Group to further raise our voice and encourage a deeper appetite for credit union services in our local communities,” said South Manchester Credit Union CEO Sheenagh Young. “We have focused strongly on marketing over the last year and have been building our presence on social media, as well as strengthening our online services offer. This award enables us to resource a business development role to build partnerships with local employers to open up easier access to credit union services for their employees.”
In all, 21 credit unions across the country received grants.
Lloyds had earlier committed to provide £1 million each year for four years, with the most recent announcements representing year four. In addition, Lloyds also announced it will commit a further £1 million of funding in 2018 on top of the £4 million they have already delivered.
The investment between 2014-18 should enable the credit union sector to lend an additional £25 million to their members, according to the banks.
Over the four years 66 credit unions have received funding. The money has been used for everything from building websites to offering digital services to bolstering capital.