One of the advantages of being a community bank is being able to give back through community sponsorship support.
Leith Rugby Youth Development players in Castle Community Bank sponsored shirts
We’re pleased to be supporting Leith Rugby Youth Development this season with shirt sponsorship. Leith Rugby develops youth rugby in Leith and encourages local children to take up sport and embrace the associated health and wellbeing benefits.
Syngenta FC team in Castle Community Bank sponsored kit
We’re also supporting Grangemouth football team Syngenta FC with kit sponsorship this season, and helping with travel expenses for a tournament trip to Barcelona.
Castle Community Bank is committed to improving the local and wider environment for all, and community sponsorship support is just one way we are able to do this.
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in Edinburgh is the latest local organisation to be supported by Leith-based credit union Castle Community Bank.
The community bank is passionate about making a difference and already supports a number of foodbanks and community organisations, with plans to support more as the company grows.
Chief Executive for Castle Community Bank, Adrian Sargent, said: “Community wealth building works and we are committed to supporting our neighbours. Citizens Advice Bureau is a crucial service for people in financial difficulty, and I’m delighted we are able to commit to supporting them with essential funding when times are extremely hard for families and individuals in Scotland and across the UK. CAB are also able to support our members wherever they are based, not only those in Edinburgh.”
CAB Edinburgh Chief Executive Benjamin Napier said: “The support from Castle Community Bank is gratefully welcomed at a time of year when finances can cause a lot of strain on households. It’s never been more important for Citizens Advice Bureau to exist. We’ll use this support to help more people in Edinburgh with financial difficulties, benefit eligibility and other everyday issues.”
Castle Community Bank, based in Leith, has received £1 million investment from Social Investment Scotland.
The growing credit union received the £1M sub-ordinated loan to support their growth and ambition to be a business of scale providing ethical and affordable loans and excellent returns for savers.
Chief Executive Adrian Sargent
Castle Community Bank Chief Executive Adrian Sargent said:
“I’m delighted that Social Investment Scotland has confidence in Castle Community Bank and has invested £1M. This fantastic investment will reap benefits for not only our organisation but also the communities and members we support in Leith and beyond. This is another important step in our journey to grow the credit union sector and promote financial inclusion in the UK.”
Social Investment Scotland Head of Investments Chris Jamieson, said:
“We’re very happy to be supporting Castle Community Bank and its ambitious programme of targeted growth, which will positively impact people in Leith and the surrounding area. We see the important role that credit unions play in building a wellbeing economy, particularly when many individuals and households are struggling with the rising cost of living. That’s why we are committed to supporting organisations such as Castle Community Bank, who are providing fair and affordable access to finance for the people and communities who need it most.”
About Castle Community Bank
Castle Community Bank is different to other UK credit unions because it is able to offer savings and loans to members across the UK rather than just one region or profession. Savers who want their money to do good can typically benefit from top tier interest rates, while enabling the bank to make affordable loans available to those who need them. Castle Community Bank uses innovative fintech outsourcing to unlock greater scale and efficiencies, thereby helping more people across the country. And because the bank is not-for-profit, any surplus generated is invested into products for members and community initiatives.
Castle Community Bank’s credit union objectives:
Encouraging thrift by growing members’ savings and putting their money to good use
Making affordable loans available to members at fair and reasonable rates of interest
Helping members with financial education and money management.
It’s a tough time financially for families and individuals across the UK right now. The cost of energy is adding unwelcome pressure to an ongoing cost-of-living crisis caused by a number of global economic issues. Castle Community Bank is dedicated to levelling-up financial inclusion and education in communities usually left behind. The following energy hardship funds information could help our members to get support with energy bills.
Support is available
While UK-wide financial support is being offered by British Gas, be aware that Scottish residents can also apply to other energy companies who offer support funds and hardship grants for customers who are struggling. If you’re in debt to an energy supplier, you may be eligible for a grant from the supplier to help pay it off.
Here’s a list of companies who offer energy hardship funds/ grants to their customers:
NOTE:If you can’t get a grant from your own supplier, you might be able to get a grant from the British Gas Energy Trust. These grants are available to anyone – you don’t have to be a British Gas customer to be eligible.
At Castle Community Bank we are dedicated to bringing people an alternative home for your savings and loans, providing fair products at competitive interest rates. Like any Credit Union, we are not-for-profit and is owned and run by members, creating a shared financial community across the UK. Any profits from running the business will be ploughed back into its member communities, starting in Leith.
“Community Wealth Building is about keeping the wealth, money, or economy local. By keeping things local it allows the money to circulate around the local economy. The money goes back in people’s pockets and back into local businesses. By keeping it a local community level means that it doesn’t get extracted away to other head offices of corporations that are not based in the local community. Grow the local community and it makes it more resilient and a better place for people to be.”
Chief Executive of Castle Community Bank, Adrian Sargent, shares his thoughts on building community wealth:
“Community Wealth Building can be categorised under five pillars:
Shared ownership of the local economy
Making financial powers work for local places
Fair employment and just labour markets
Progressive procurement of goods and services
Socially just and productive use of land, property and assets
“Designed to harness the economic leverage of local ‘anchor’ organisations to tackle long-standing systematic challenges and structural inequalities within our communities, community wealth building seeks to transform local systems to enable local people to have a stake in and benefit from the wealth our economy generates. It can deliver more and better jobs, business growth, community-owned assets and shorter supply chains creating better resilience.
Purpose alignment
“Within the credit union sector and Castle Community Bank, two of the pillars resonate really strongly. ‘Shared ownership of the local economy’ is wholly aligned to the purpose and values of our member owned organisation. We’re here for our community, our members, and we wish to give back and make sure we build our local community. The other is ‘making financial powers work for local places’. That really is core to way that we think and the way that aligns to our values and our purpose.
“We are a financial institution, we want to ensure that we can educate the local community, work with social enterprises, build that wealth within that local community.
“Castle Community Bank is a social enterprise, and there for our members, we aren’t beholden to large corporates or the stock market, so what we do is always in the best interests of our members.
Together, the community wealth building efforts of Castle Community Bank and other organisations, can help to create a more resilient and inclusive place to live, work and thrive.
“Community Wealth Building is something that is core to credit unions, and I can see that, as we focus more on this as a society, there will be a greater place for credit unions to ensure improved financial inclusion, giving back to our members, giving back to our community. Doing what we can in our community – be that offering fair savings products for our customers and our members in the local community, or offering good value loans to businesses, social enterprises and not-for-profits – keeping money within the local community for the betterment of that community.
Keep it local
“Community Wealth Building is important to myself, it keeps things local, it allows services and businesses to be there for the local community. It keeps the money in the local community to regenerate that particular area, which can then hopefully see high streets being regenerated as well, and to allow the people living in the community to have more services on their doorstep.
“Together, the community wealth building efforts of Castle Community Bank and other organisations, can help to create a more resilient and inclusive place to live, work and thrive.
“Watch this short film from ESES featuring our bank and other community organisations striving to make a difference in our region.”
As the cost-of-living crisis continues for struggling communities across the nation, credit unions can step up and support those in need.
The role of credit unions then has never been more sharply in focus
Chief Executive at Castle Community Bank, Adrian Sargent says:
“The cost-of-living crisis continues, and more and more struggling families will have no choice but to turn to lenders to make ends meet. The role of credit unions then has never been more sharply in focus. As the economic fallout from the pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine continues to squeeze the finances of disadvantaged communities, credit unions must be there to soften the fall with affordable lending and financial education.
Unregulated lending increasing
“With the welcome decline of payday lenders in the UK market, credit unions and non-profit community lenders must plug the gap. Fears that illegal loan sharks might see an opportunity in the current crisis aren’t without weight. According to the Centre for Social Justice, the thinktank co-founded by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith, more than 1 million people are now using illegal lenders in England. Others are turning to unregulated but legal forms of lending, such as buy now pay later schemes run by firms Klarna, Clearpay and Layby. Often these schemes don’t charge interest, but people are still at risk of debt by overextending themselves, with the schemes encouraging over-consumption of borrowing.
“Research released by Barclays Bank and the debt charity Stepchange* in June found almost a third of buy now pay later borrowers said their loans had become unmanageable and had pushed them into problem debt. The same report showed that 4.4 million people in the UK borrowed money to make ends meet last year. With 71 per cent of those surveyed sharing that using credit had negatively affected their health, relationships, or ability to work. Two thirds said they were only able to keep up with payments by skipping housing or utility bills.
A welcome increase in membership
“Non-profit social enterprises lent only £34m in 2021, with around 67,4000 customers last year. Despite their recent decline, payday lenders still managed to lend about £60.4m in the first quarter of 2022, according to the FCA, while home-collected creditors lent about £95m in the final three months of 2021. We are seeing a welcome increase in the number of people using credit unions, with membership now above 2.1 million. Castle now has c14,500 members across the UK and total assets of c.£82m. But we can do more, and we must work with the sector and our partners to develop products and services to reach these individuals and help them improve their debt management and help them get out debt and over time turn them from borrowers to savers.
Sector potential
“I attended the World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow earlier this year. An impressive 1600 credit union professionals, from 51 countries, came together to hear 30 keynotes from more than 50 speakers. Topics ranged from digitalization, cybersecurity, regulation and advocacy, financial inclusion and education, diversity and equity, business strategy and influence and sustainable finance. It was a great opportunity to discuss how credit unions can make a difference and share best practice from an international collective. My takeaways from the conference are that – specifically in the UK – the sector has so much potential to grow, and therefore help even more members. Support is required from investor, regulators and the government to allow a regime that promotes growth, so the sector can truly add value and catch people who fall out of mainstream banking, or are already financially excluded.
“Like any Credit Union, Castle Community Bank is not for profit and is owned and run by members, creating a shared financial community across the UK. Any surplus revenues from running the business is ploughed back into its member communities, starting in Leith.”
