Meeting of the Parliament 17 September 2019
I start by thanking the cabinet secretary. She will recall that on the previous occasion in the chamber on which we celebrated the contribution that credit unions make to a fairer Scotland, I asked the Scottish Government to consider emulating the Welsh Government by enabling credit unions to access financial transactions in order to boost regulatory reserves.
I also raised the issue directly with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work on three occasions during the budget process: I am happy to record that I was urged to do so by my constituents who are members of West Lothian Credit Union, of which I am also a member.
Given the welcome announcement in the programme for government that there will be a dedicated credit union investment fund of £10 million, and the further detail that has been outlined by Ms Campbell today, I can see that she has been persuasive in her engagement with Mr Mackay. I am sure that members will take careful note of that in relation to future requests.
The briefing that ABCUL has circulated gives detail of Scottish Government support over the past 10 years or so. The £10 million investment that has been announced is the biggest vote of confidence in what the credit union sector has achieved—and will achieve—for the communities that it seeks to serve. Information from the Lloyds Banking Group’s credit union development fund shows that, to date, the fund’s investment of £5 million in capital reserves has had a fivefold leverage effect.
The purpose of the £10 million credit union investment fund is to provide loans to enable credit unions to strengthen their balance sheets and increase their digital and physical presence. That might sound like the dry language of accountants, but it gets to the heart of how we might best support credit unions to help more borrowers and savers, and of how we might strengthen the movement’s capacity in the longer term.
We should not limit our ambition to there being more than 400,000 members of 90 credit unions in Scotland. We can and must do more. In particular, we must get the message across that credit unions are for everyone, irrespective of their income. As Ruth Maguire said, the ability to invest in technology enables provision of a better service to customers, and demonstrates that credit unions are not just ethical lenders with strong community roots, but are trusted, safe and professional organisations.
In our most recent debate on credit unions, at the start of the year, I reflected that at a time when life was dominated by all things Brexit it was uplifting to have the opportunity to consider the practical commitments and contributions of the credit union movement. Today, that stands truer than ever.
I will never forget that on the day after the European Union referendum, when I was thoroughly depressed, I attended an event that West Lothian Credit Union had organised to celebrate the significant milestone of lending out £10 million to the West Lothian community. In its history of more than 20 years, West Lothian Credit Union has lent £13.6 million to the West Lothian community. It should be congratulated on that and on everything else that it has achieved. Nancy MacGillivray is a stalwart of West Lothian Credit Union. She was my local hero at the opening of Parliament in 2007, and she is still a local hero, as is everyone else who is involved in West Lothian Credit Union and the 90 credit unions in Scotland.
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