CAMPAIGN FOR COMMUNITY BANKING SERVICES

A MUST FOR EVERY ELECTION MANIFESTO

This statement at HSBC’s 2009 AGM could just as well have been made by the other three traditional banks: Barclays, Lloyds TSB (LBG) and NatWest (RBS) whose networks are very similar in size and geographic spread. This poses multiple threats, far beyond loss of banking access, to vulnerable individuals, small businesses and communities throughout the country.

40% of bank branches have closed since 1990. 1500 communities with only one or two banks remaining (always one of the traditional big four) are now, more than ever, in the firing line----
--and our political leadership is failing to come forward with alternative proposals.

Access to banking is key to the survival of retail and other services in many medium sized rural communities and in less well-off suburbs, estates and inner-cities. If active people and small businesses go to bank elsewhere, they spend elsewhere too and those that suffer most from loss of local amenities are the most vulnerable: older and disabled people, those with mobility difficulties, and carers - and yet government stands aside and lets it happen.

Given that a solution proven viable in UK studies and operating successfully throughout the US, has been on the table for over ten years, continued inaction on the part of a government is not acceptable in the new financial and political climate. The opportunity to act, as we deal with the consequences of the recession for all our financial institutions and lay plans for a new architecture, has never been more favourable and urgent. The solution is not just a rescue package, but brings qualitative and tangible gains across a range of social and economic fronts. It:

• Improves access for customers of all banking providers
• Enhances sustainability of communities’ other services
• Is a standard bearer for ‘localism’
• Helps post offices, credit unions and CDFIs.
• Aids financial inclusion
• Reduces carbon emissions¹

AND, to a government seeking to dispose profitably of majority stakes in two of the four relevant banks, provides the opportunity to save up to £1billion p.a.²  in branch network costs thereby aiding an early return to pre-crisis profitability.

1. Examples: Liss, Hants 1m miles a year (360 tonnes); Shepshed, Leics 1.4m miles a year (500 tonnes).

2. Based on validated estimate of net savings realisable from adopting for the secondary and tertiary tiers of their networks the alternative delivery channels which substantially reduce costs but retain competitive choice for consumers.