THE Church of England's flagship credit union has been approved
by the financial regulators, paving the way for it to open its
doors officially in February.
The Churches Mutual Credit Union (CMCU), a joint venture with
the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland, the Scottish
Episcopal Church, and the Church in Wales, was authorised by the
Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority
on Tuesday.
Clergy, lay ministers, church trustees, church charities, and
churches themselves will all be eligible to join the CMCU from
February next year. Among the services offered by the union will be
savings accounts, ISAs, and loans for mission projects and
equipment, as well as cars.
The credit union's president, Canon Antony MacRow-Wood, said:
"CMCU will help many, even in its first year of operation and, in
due course, it should become a significant financial resource to
the Church and individuals throughout England, Wales, and
Scotland.
"CMCU will enable a virtuous recycling of money within the
church community, through a combined portfolio of savings and loan
products."
Eventually, it is planned that the CMCU will be open to all
parishioners and those in other denominations as well. The project
was conceived in 2008, but has been a central plank of the
Archbishop of Canterbury's plans to save people from spiralling
payday loan debts and "compete Wonga out of business" (News, 26 July 2013).
Alongside setting up the Church's own credit union, there have
been moves to improve financial education in schools and to
encourage churches to form partnerships with their local credit
union and promote responsible lending (News,
30 May). An organisation, To Your Credit, has also been
established to campaign for a fairer financial system.
New post. Sir Hector Sants, the former
financial regulator who has been spearheading Archbishop Welby's
task force on finance, has taken a new position with the management
consultancy Oliver Wyman. Previously, Sir Hector worked at
Barclays, and before that he ran the now-defunct Financial Services
Authority. He will continue working for the Church while in his new
post.