Credit Unions
Debate between Katrina Murray and Edward Morello(3 days, 6 hours ago)
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Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. She has mentioned financial burdens a couple of times. The average credit union has fewer than seven employees, and is run nearly entirely by volunteers. Smaller credit unions are under the same dual regulatory burden as larger ones, and have to report to both the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Does she think that there should be proportionality, and that lighter regulation for smaller credit unions would give them the capacity to innovate?
Katrina Murray
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his helpful intervention. We need a joined-up approach to our support for the sector’s unique role. We must particularly support small credit unions with few staff members who are predominantly volunteers, because when it gets too much, volunteers may move away and services may close. We need regulatory reform, but we also need practical backing so that credit unions can modernise, merge where appropriate and scale sustainably.
I repeat my call to the Minister: please investigate the regulatory ambiguity that credit unions face, and particularly the application of the CONC by the Financial Ombudsman Service. I ask him to please consider measures to strengthen, not weaken, one of the most community-focused financial tools that we have. Let us not allow credit unions to wither on the vine. Let us invest in their future and, by doing so, in a more inclusive, more resilient economy for all.