Thame Community Bank Directors visit House of Commons

THE Directors of the Swan Credit Union, which includes Thame Community Bank, visited the House of Commons on June 8, to celebrate winning funding to develop the organisation.

The event was hosted by Jeremy Quin MP, a former Swan board member who is now chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Credit Unions.

Jeremy Quin MP said: “As a former Board member of the Swan Credit Union, I know from first-hand experience how important their work is: encouraging savings and offering affordable credit to those who can otherwise pay exorbitant rates to non-bank lenders. I am delighted that this grant from the Lloyds Banking Group will help Swan to achieve its ambitions to grow and help even more members of its local community.”

The grant funds were provided by the Lloyds Banking Group’s Credit Union Development Fund, managed in partnership with The Credit Union Foundation. This fund is designed to strengthen the financial position of credit unions and give them the capacity to develop new strategies for sustainable growth.

A spokesperson for Swan Credit Union said: “The Board of Swan Credit Union were extremely pleased to receive this grant, which will help to support our continuing expansion and the development of our services to members. It will also provide for an independent review of our future back office service provision to cater for our planned growth..”

The back office review will be carried out by Coventry and Warwickshire Co-operative Development Agency. It will be used to inform the strategy being developed to improve the services provided by Swan in North Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and South Oxfordshire. Further details can be found on the credit union website and its Facebook page.

NB Thame Community Bank was launched in November 2013 by Phil Stratton (Thame Aliance Group – TAG), the then Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert and Steve Eyre (TAG) – LINK HERE