Community Banking Services

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 20 October 2021.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:03, 20 October 2021

I thank the Member. Rhun, thank you for raising that again, because this has been raised with me by many Senedd Members, that voluntary organisations are experiencing difficulties with regard to access to banking services. There are difficulties in terms of identifying an account that's free and suitable for the needs of a voluntary organisation, as well as even being able to open one in the first place. You've acknowledged the role of the credit unions, who can provide accounts and banking facilities to charitable organisations. I don't think everybody, perhaps, is aware of that. But also, many of you will know of the work of Purple Shoots, which is a pioneering microloans charity that's developed in Wales. They're now working very closely with credit unions to help them facilitate this.

We can't let the banks off the hook, as far as I'm concerned, on this, and we are meeting with them to, yet again, not just talk about the extent of the closures—we're all getting them daily, almost, aren't we—but the fact that this is excluding people and charitable organisations. We do, though, have an opportunity as well, with the third sector support that we've got from our county voluntary councils, along with the WCVA. They are establishing a community asset loan fund, and they are going to have funding that we are helping them with—a pot of £2 million in financial transaction capital. They can offer loans, for example, for organisations seeking to take on community assets. Also, they can get loans to help build up credit history for voluntary organisations. But I'm certainly going to be taking this back to the banking sector with my colleague Vaughan Gething as well. This is crucial. It's much reserved, but Banc Cambria is on its way.