Castle Community Bank Celebrates Exceptional Growth

Wednesday 27 March 2024

Leith-based credit union, Castle Community Bank is celebrating its 2023 successes which has seen extraordinary growth in membership. At its annual general meeting it was reported that the credit union’s total membership has grown to over 46,000 in September 2023.

“I’m proud of our team, and the growth that we have achieved this year” said Castle Community Bank Chief Executive, Adrian Sargent. “We remain focussed on our social purpose of supporting communities, whilst helping our members to maximise their savings and manage debt as effectively as possible.”

Adrian also emphasised that credit union members are highly satisfied by the services, as he stated: “our overall current Trustpilot rating of 4.8/5 shows we are getting the day-to-day experience right for our membership.”

Castle Community Bank holds assets totalling £283m, with deposits having grown to £247m and the loan book has increased to £225m in 2023.

“I like to think of our operating model as a ‘circle of good’” said Castle Community Bank Chair, Stephen Pearson.

“Savers like our top quartile interest rates and easy online joining process. Many of them also like the fact that we make their money go further by funding our affordable loan products, enabling people who struggle to access loans from mainstream banks to borrow what they need at affordable rates.

“In turn, prudent, commercial success enables us to grow our community programmes in Edinburgh and beyond: including providing debt advice support, sustainable food bank funding and ethical investment for charities and churches.”