Black History Month – Pioneers of the Credit Union Movement Remembered

Friday 26 January 2024

For over 40 years, Black History Month has been celebrated in the UK. It’s a time to reflect on the diverse histories and achievements of Black people and their extraordinary contributions to society, even in the face of long-standing challenges and injustices.

The first credit union to be established in Britain under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act was founded by Caribbean Windrush migrants. Hornsey Co-operative Credit Union launched in 1964 as a reaction to the discrimination that Caribbean migrants were facing from the banks and financial institutions of the day.Banks often refused to lend money to Caribbeans, charged higher interest rates or required them to pay larger deposits  for loans to buy houses and flats.

Along with other Caribbean credit unions, Hornsey Co-operative founded the Credit Union League of Great Britain in 1967. This became today’s national credit union trade body – The Association of British Credit Unions or ABCUL – in 1964.

Frank Villiers was one of the credit union’s founding members and also the first President of the Credit Union League of Great Britain.    ABCUL was delighted to welcome Frank as a special guest to the 2004 AGM and in an article for Credit Union News that year, he wrote of those early beginnings for the movement: “The start of the immigration of Jamaican and other West Indians had preceded my visit and I soon realised that there were very serious difficulties. The problems were mainly financial. They found it very difficult to obtain credit and when they could, the interest rate was increased; they were not able to view a property without paying a fee that was not always refundable and even applying for life insurance meant increased premiums. This was of course a big concern to these people and was brought to the attention of the Jamaican High Commission in London.

“Meetings were organised for Jamaicans in London resulting in the decision that those who had experience of credit unions in Jamaica should form one in London. As I had that experience I was encouraged to assist. Thus was formed the Hornsey Co-operative Credit Union in 1964.”

Commenting on the impact of Black History Month, ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly said: “Many pioneers of our movement in this country came from black communities. The Association is indebted to those early trailblazers who were pivotal to the early development of the credit union movement in Britain.

“Their achievements in leading by example amongst many hardships and struggles were underpinned by the core values that we continue to hold dear today – people helping people, co-operation, resilience, empowering communities, and fair and equitable finance.”

Further reading on the history of the credit union sector will be made available on the Save and Sound History Project’s website. This will be launched in the coming weeks and credit unions will be welcome to add their own photos, documents and stories to the site.