An agreement brokered by a disadvantaged community with a mainstream bank two decades ago offers valuable insights to address financial exclusion today.
Niall Alexander, a community worker “by trade” says the “groundswell” in addressing unfairness and financial exclusion is now reaching a peak. People “aren’t asking for gold plated taps” – they need very small sums of money, but could turn to illegal lenders if fair and affordable credit isn’t available legally.
Niall, now Markets and Consumer Insights Manager with Fair4All Finance, covers a lot of ground in this episode and doesn’t mince his words. Scroll down to listen.
When he worked in Wester Hailes, a peripheral housing estate in Edinburgh, he and “amazing community activists” set up a community banking agreement with the Bank of Scotland.
- What did it achieve for disadvantaged, under-served and financially-excluded people?
- How has Niall’s journey from community worker to bank employee to working with community development finance institutions, then Carnegie UK informed his work with Fair4All Finance?
- What are his key priorities with Fair4All? Niall describes the recent powerful report into illegal money lending and other forthcoming research due in September 2023.
- Why is Niall a fan of good, fit-for-purpose legislation.
- What can we do to help people avoid illegal lenders and scale up affordable credit?
- How has Michael Sheen’s engagement in addressing high-cost lending been helpful?
- Why should we, and how can we, quantify the value and benefit of the wraparound services that not for profit lenders offer?
- And what potential does a Community Reinvestment Act – or Fair Banking Act – offer in the UK?
Many people work really hard to run really good businesses with wafer thin margins in community finance. And there are good people in mainstream finance who want to find common ground – despite different cultures – and Niall is confident in the potential for a “slow then sudden” change.
Play or download this episode here. You can also find it in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and many other podcast apps:
What next?
- Visit the Fair4All Finance website for reports mentioned in this episode https://fair4allfinance.org.uk
- Read about the report from Fair4All Finance and We Fight Fraud ‘As one door closes – Experiences of illegal moneylending during an emerging cost of living crisis’
- Listen to our podcast episode with Michael Sheen
- Learn more about our members mentioned in this episode: Fair Finance, Fair for You, Moneyline and Salad Money
- Responsible Finance represents social purpose, community lenders in the UK. Read more about how our members helped people save millions of pounds in interest last year.