ABCUL: Credit unions welcome Post Office plans

Tuesday, 9 November 2010 12:00 AM

ABCUL - the Association of British Credit Unions - has welcomed today's policy statement from The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on its plans to secure the long term future of the Post Office. In particular, ABCUL is pleased to see a commitment to expand affordable and accessible financial services through Post Offices, for example by working with credit unions.

Mark Lyonette, Chief Executive of ABCUL, said: "We would like to congratulate the Government for recognising the importance of credit unions by firmly supporting a stronger link up between credit unions and the Post Office network. More needs to be done to ensure this happens and we welcome the support from Minister Ed Davey for the work we are doing."

Making credit union services available through Post Offices would dramatically increase access to affordable credit, safe savings and other financial services for millions more people.

Mark adds: "It is good to see that the proposals received support from both sides of the House and we look forward to continuing to work with the Government on how best to achieve the link up."

- e n d s -

ABCUL is the main trade association for credit unions in England, Scotland and Wales. At the end of June 2009, ABCUL's 325 credit unions were managing nearly £450 million of members' savings on behalf of over 550,000 people, and had over £375 million out on loan.

ABCUL is the country's largest development, information and training network for new credit unions. It is a democratic, not-for-profit organisation and is improving day-to-day operations, legislation and regulation for all credit unions.

Credit unions are financial co-operatives owned and controlled by their members. They are licensed deposit takers, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and they are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so the first £50,000 of a member's savings are completely safe.

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