LONDON—Ninety-six U.K. credit unions have applied for funding from the new Lloyds Banking Group Credit Union Development Fund, according to MortgageFinanceToday.com. The £4 million fund, being run in partnership with the Credit Union Foundation, is in its first year and makes two types of grants:
- Large awards of between £50,000 and £100,000 to provide a contribution to a credit union’s reserves and help remove barriers to growth and innovation.
- Seed funding awards of between £10,000 and £20,000 to help credit unions make the changes they need to apply for a large award in a subsequent year or to pay for the costs of merger in certain circumstances.
Lloyds will announce the winners of the funding later this year. MortgageFinanceToday.com noted that since 2004 membership in Britain’s credit unions is up 90% to more than one-million people.