Co-op News Interview ABCUL Chief Executive, Matt Bland

Friday 11 July 2025

In his first interview as ABCUL Chief Executive, Matt Bland speaks to Co-op News about a pivotal moment for credit unions in Great Britain. Matt sets out a bold, ambitious vision for the sector – covering everything from legislative reform and digital innovation to the potential of collaborative service models. With government attention growing and key opportunities emerging, Matt urges the movement to seize the moment. Read the full interview here.

Just days into his new role, Matt attended a landmark reception at No.10 for the co-operative sector – a sign of growing government recognition and momentum for credit unions in Great Britain.

Speaking about the reception at Downing Street, Matt said: “Coming into this role is exciting as it is a time of real opportunity for the sector to achieve some meaningful support from government to expand and grow.

“The manifesto commitment was to double the size of the co-op and mutual sector – and the reception was linked to that agenda. There were representatives from the largest co-op businesses, along with trade associations, mutuals and credit unions.

“Last year the Mutuals and Co-operative Business Council was formed by the chancellor in response to its commitment, and each of our sectors is currently working on a set of proposals and policy recommendations geared toward realising this. Alongside that, the government is developing a financial inclusion strategy, which has a lot of relevance for credit unions.”

As new Chief Executive, Matt is hoping to build on this foundation – championing innovation, enhancing member services, and shaping a bold future for the organisation and wider sector.

“Having spent much of my career advocating the values, resilience, and potential of credit unions, I’m passionate about the unique role we play in supporting members and communities,” Matt says.  “With the right vision and investment, credit unions can be at the forefront of inclusive, ethical finance in Great Britain.

“My focus will be on accelerating sustainable growth, ensuring we continue to deliver exceptional value to our members. That means embracing technology, strengthening governance, and building new partnerships – while staying true to our co-operative principles.”

Addressing challenges and opportunities facing the sector, in particular drawing on inspiration from the US model of Credit Union Service Organisations (CUSOs), Matt believes this is a market that can help address many challenges. “Credit unions are operating in a more competitive market than ever before,” he says. “The digitisation challenge is how to keep up with the latest technology and expectations. Mobile banking and innovations like Revolut, Monzo and the wider fintech sector have revolutionised expectations; we need to keep up with that to stay relevant.

“Our focus is trying to deliver collaborative solutions like cusos, which are very prominent in other parts of the world like the US, Australia and Canada, where organisations have a shared infrastructure so credit unions can share and pool resources.

“Here we could also take on new opportunities such as car finance, which, so far, we have not taken advantage of.”

Matt hopes to capitalise on the positive changes to credit union legislation which came into force under the Financial Services and Markets Act in 2023. Other priorities include reforming the common bond rule which restricts who can join in a specific area.

“ABCUL has been pushing for reforms to increase the cap on locality-based membership (currently 3 million potential members), which limits growth and complicates mergers,” he says.  “We have already seen significant consolidation.

“At one time there were 700 credit unions; this is now 250 and that trend will only continue. The common bond limits our potential and we could raise the cap to something quite a lot bigger – however we don’t want to remove it altogether as it is one of the things which makes a credit union different.”

With the rise of online banking, credit unions around the world are also increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. In 2023 alone, there was a 25% increase in cybersecurity incidents at UK credit unions.

“This is a top priority and something we take very seriously which is why we need to work collaboratively towards more integrated services.”

Back in 2017 ABCUL pioneered the Model Credit Union project, aiming to integrate IT systems under one core banking platform and mobile app as part of a government drive to expand the sector. Several credit unions signed up with plans for a major roll-out but the initiative stalled due to digital and other challenges.

“We don’t want to try to do that again in that particular way but it’s given us the insight of what we are about which is enabling credit unions to create solutions for themselves,” Matt said. “We still want to provide the wherewithal to the sector via investment to drive digitisation.

“We can also provide the conditions within which solutions can come from the sector and provide opportunities for investment to come in and help credit unions find out exactly what they need.”

Matt praised projects like Manchester’s consortium of credit unions, “Sound Pound” saying: “We need to improve and deepen the level of engagement we have. I have a number of ideas about broadening our horizons, we have perhaps been too inward looking. The world is changing rapidly and we need to be plugged into engagement with members, building a sense of collective endeavour, supporting innovation and looking at how we deliver services and improve our digital connection.

“I want ABCUL to be challenging credit unions to be more ambitious and provide a more focussed leadership around our vision and how we get there. We have got such an opportunity, but I am concerned that opportunity might not last as long as we need it to. We can’t afford to delay, and we need to grasp these opportunities as much as we can.”

To read the full interview click here.