‘Transforming Affordable Credit in the UK’ – ABCUL welcomes Fair4All Finance report

Friday 12 January 2024

This week, Fair4All Finance launched its report setting out its initial findings on what it will take to build capacity and capability in the sector. This is based on the shared Theory of Change it has developed with the wider sector, as well as a pilot programme, which involved working closely with five affordable credit providers,  Enterprise Credit Union, Fair for You, Five Lamps, Leeds Credit Union and Moneyline.

To help meet this scale-up challenge, the report identifies five opportunity areas for capability development:

• system change and impact
• funding and finance
• markets, customer insight and product design
• operational excellence
• governance, leadership and talent.

The report sets out some of its findings and areas of future enquiry in each of these areas. It is now developing the next phase of the programme on the back of these findings and expect its approach to be launched later in the spring when all five case studies will be published.

Chief Executive of Fair4All Finance, Sacha Romanovitch:  “Responsible credit allows borrowers to meet unexpected costs, to smooth incomes or to make essential purchases that are otherwise unaffordable upfront

“Conversely, a lack of access can mean going without essential appliances like a boiler or a washing machine, or being unable to afford school uniforms or birthday presents for children. Affordable lenders operate with the care, forbearance and support that customers in vulnerable circumstances need, and can save families hundreds or thousands of pounds a year in repayments compared to the rates charged by payday or doorstep lenders.

“The challenge we face is how we create a new normal – a ‘10x challenge’ to give more people than ever before the fair and affordable alternative they need. This will require transformational change. Work is needed on the supply side, to increase the availability and appropriateness of affordable credit.

“We’re looking forward to taking this exciting agenda forward to drive positive change for the people and communities that most need it.”

Commenting in the report, ABCUL Chief Executive, Robert Kelly said: “ABCUL wish to commend the work of Fair4All Finance since its inception. The open, transparent and robust engagement methodology utilised so far has been really encouraging as we identify the key opportunities and business challenges around the development and significant expansion of the affordable credit market across the country.

“We look forward to continuing to positively engage in the months ahead to deliver real and transformational change for credit unions and consumers alike.”

You can download a copy of the report here.

Sacha Romanovitch will be a keynote speaker at the 2020 ABCUL Annual conference in March. Sacha will be addressing how the credit union sector is to engage in its plans to transform affordable credit.