South Manchester Credit Union ‘Opens up’ on the importance of financial resilience

Tuesday 16 January 2024

In a recent interview, South Manchester Credit Union CEO, Sheenagh Young tells ‘Open Up’ Magazine about the importance of supporting local economies and building financial resilience.

Last year, South Manchester Credit Union worked as part of the Greater Manchester Consortium of credit unions to deliver a £15m fund to lend to those struggling financially, supporting local economies, and helping to rebuild the communities after the months of lockdown.

“We want credit unions to play a larger part in economic policy decisions at city-region level. Together, we’re bigger and we’re stronger. We’re all based within our communities and understand what Greater Manchester residents are going through right now.”

Collectively the Consortium has over 65,000 savers and borrowing is growing fast. Sheenagh states credit unions are still their for community support, however, are adapting to compete with the high-street banks. Sheenagh added: “As keyworkers, we worked right through the pandemic and although we couldn’t full open our Fogg Lane premises, thousands of people were able to access their accounts from our Nivo messaging app”. The secure encrypted messaging allows customers to open accounts, apply for loans or contact the team at South Manchester Credit Union.

“We’re seeing more and more young people becoming members. Covid has hit them especially hard, given its impact on the retail and hospitality sector,” Sheenagh says, “The Sound Pound’s priority now is to expand and develop our technology to make our services even more convenient. We are also working hard to spread the message about our ethical saving and lending. Whether you are a saver or a borrower, you’re helping local people and making our community more financial resilient – and that’s good for everyone.”

You can read the full interview with Sheenagh here.