SECTOR FOCUS: FINANCE
Bank boosts credit union A
Birmingham credit union has been awarded £46,000 from
the Barclays Community Finance Fund. The cash will be used by Citysave
in Waterloo Street to develop a scheme which will help vulnerable households manage their finances. The scheme is being developed in
the wake of the Government’s welfare reform proposals, among which is a plan to make people responsible for paying their own rent, rather than the money, in the form of housing benefits, going directly to ‘registered social landlords’. Citysave chief executive Angela Clements said: “Citysave has responded to the evident need for personal and supportive services helping to stabilise household finances, by developing the community banking project.
Perfectly placed : Glenn Harris Bond scheme to
fund housing A West Midlands based social housing association has launched a £150m bond scheme to raise cash for expansion.
Reaching out to the vulnerable (left to right): MP Damian Hinds, who is chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Credit Unions, Flo Betts of Citysave and Tim Kiy (Barclays)
‘By working in partnership with other organisations we can reach many vulnerable groups’
“We are sincerely grateful for this funding from Barclays, which will allow us to reach further into communities across Birmingham. By working in
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OCTOBER 2012 CHAMBERLINK 41
partnership with other organisations we can reach many vulnerable groups, particularly young adults who need some support in budgeting and paying bills.” Citysave was founded in 1987 and has almost 10,000 members across Birmingham. A credit union is a member-owned financial
cooperative, controlled by its members, and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services.
Midland Heart, which has its headquarters in Birmingham city centre, intends to retain a third of the bonds for sale to investors at a later date, but the rest of the money will be used to fund the building of 2,400 affordable new homes in the region by 2015. Midland Heart finance director Glenn Harris said: “We are in a strong financial position - the bond reflects the strong belief that investors have in the sector.”
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