Community Banking Partnership

Key projects piloted through the Robert Owen Community Banking Partnership in Mid Wales include:-

• Monergy

  This award-winning service integrates the delivery of money advice, energy advice, bill payments and affordable credit. Monergy is a second phase model of development that builds upon the Factor 4 pilot in Birmingham and the MABS pilot phase of Enterprise Credit Union. This needs to be developed further through the setting up of a local financial inclusion partnership with other advice agencies in Powys including the CAB, Age Concern, Disability Powys and Powys Benefits. RSN is developing a fully costed and replicable model with national potential.

• Community Banking Account

  A fundamental service gap for credit unions and CDFIs has been the lack of a cost effective bill payment and budgeting facility. NACUW and RSN have been working with Street UK to modify their Streetpay service to meet the needs of COMMUINITY BANKING PARTNERSHIP Pathfinders – especially those seeking to offer MABs-type services. By combining a bill payment system with Monergy advice and functional elements of the Basic Bank account, NACUW and RSN have devised a Community Banking service. NACUW and RSN are working with ROMCUL and Coventry COMMUINITY BANKING PARTNERSHIP to pilot the first Community Bank Account from September 2008. This involves the integration of credit union software with the bill payment functions through BACS transmissions; design of appropriate budgeting services; finding back office efficiencies; undertaking full risk assessments; identifying transmission cost reductions; expansion of the service through intermediary markets; integration within a credit path model of financial inclusion.

• Homeownership Centre

  RSN has researched a ‘one-stop approach’ for low-income homeowners that can address the rising problem of disrepair and the strategic difficulties of achieving Decent Homes standards. Investment for the development of the first Homeownership Centre in Britain is being sought by a partnership between RSN, Care & Repair Powys and the Robert Owen Community Banking Partnership, which will robustly test this model so that it can be replicated elsewhere. Collaborative work in this area with Community Finance Solutions is under development.

• Home improvement lending

  This is a relatively new area of community development finance and only five CDFIs operate in this field nationally. From his knowledge of these lending methodologies in the USA, Pat Conaty led the feasibility research work and undertook additional development work to set up the first of these three housing finance CDFIs: ART Homes, Wessex Reinvestment Trust Homes Fund and the London Rebuilding Society Homes Fund. As with enterprise lending, effective programme development to join up credit provision with effective advice and support is difficult to deliver on the ground. There are two Community Banking Partnership Pathfinders developing housing finance products: Robert Owen Community Banking Partnership and South Coast Moneyline. The Robert Owen Community Banking Partnership has been part-funded by Powys County Council to test a partnership model to co-deliver a package of: a) housing improvement advice b) subsidised loans; and c) available grants.