Credit unions will be biggest in Wales

Dec 9 2010 by Judith Phillips, North Wales Weekly News

A CREDIT Union originally set up to help flood victims get back on their feet is set to merge with others to become the biggest in Wales.

Llandudno Credit Union was established after floods in 1993 devastated areas of the resort and Llandudno Junction to provide low cost loans to help victims who weren’t covered by household insurance.

And it has continued to provide a service to people who might otherwise be tempted to borrow from loan sharks.

Now the Junction-based body will join with the Clwyd Coast and Caledfryn Credit Unions in Denbighshire and the Wrexham and Y Llechen (Gwynedd and Anglesey) credit unions to form one body.

The new organisation will be called North Wales Credit Union and with 8,000 adult and 2,000 junior members and over £5m in assets will be the biggest credit union in Wales, and one of the biggest in the UK.

Mal Jackson, marketing officer for the Clwyd Coast union, said: “This is a tremendously exciting step for all credit union members in North Wales.

“It will make the movement more sustainable and allow us to provide a lot of extra and expanded services including a current account which will allow members to have a debit card and direct debits, competitive loan rates and the ability to help more people on low income and develop new technology such as internet banking.”

The merger will take place in early January when the existing boards of directors will disband and the existing shadow board will take over.

John Killion, chairman of the new organisation’s shadow board, explained: “We’ve been working on this development for over two years and are very confident the merger will be of tremendous benefit to our members.

“The new services will help everyone, especially those who are most financially excluded. The challenge will be to keep our services as local as possible, and we are creating local forums and would encourage all volunteers and supporters old and new to support these. It might be a bigger credit union but it is still our credit union.”