UK: Banks Must Be Forced To Serve Poorer Communities
Rahman, K.

Thamesmead, a sprawling area of mainly social housing in south-east London, has approximately 40,000 households – but not one bank branch. There is evidence of high-cost lenders in the area and, according to Trading Standards Institute, about 1,500 people are regularly using loan sharks. 

Places such as Thamesmead were highlighted last week by the Better Banking Campaign as part of a problem that saw nearly 60,000 businesses denied access to finance last year, and around 2 million people without a bank account. So far, nearly 200 organizations – community and antipoverty groups, ethical investment funds, think-tanks, activists, and alternative finance organizations, including Fair Finance – have signed up to the campaign, which is trying to highlight the growing impact of the loss of financial services in some of our poorer communities.

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