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Minister launches action plan to support credit unions

9 Dec 2010 03:11 PM
The Social Justice and Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant today launched ‘Raising the Profile: Meeting the Challenges’, an action plan to support credit unions in Wales.

The three year action plan aims to support the development of strong, sound and effective credit unions in Wales. During the current challenging economic climate credit unions are becoming an increasingly important provider of accessible and affordable financial services.

The action plan identifies a number of key objectives on how credit unions can achieve long term sustainability. Objectives include strengthening the governance of credit unions, increasing the number of credit union members and raising the profile of credit unions in Wales.  

The Minister said,

“This action plan demonstrates the Welsh Assembly Government’s continuing commitment to supporting credit unions.

“Over the past ten years the credit union movement in Wales has come a long way. With the support of the Welsh Assembly Government, credit union membership has increased five fold from 10,000 in 2000 to more than 50,000 by the end of 2009.

“At a time when there is widespread dissatisfaction with the UK banking sector, credit unions in Wales have bucked the trend and are becoming increasingly popular.

“In this difficult economic climate, it is more important than ever to provide accessible and affordable financial services for the people of Wales. As well as providing a safe and convenient way to save and offering low cost loans, credit union members can access a range of other financial services. These can include current accounts, debt management advice and Christmas savings accounts.

“I am committed to helping credit unions in Wales secure long term sustainability. By 2013, I hope that many credit unions will have achieved, or be very close to achieving self-sustainability.”

Related Links

An action plan for the Credit union movement in Wales 2010-2013