Member News
29th July 2010The opening of the first new High Street bank for 100 years, Metro Bank, shows there is clear demand for new banking services and so the government should stand by its commitment to establish a Post Bank, said the Post Bank Coalition today. (Thursday).
Post Bank would be wholly publicly owned and run through the trusted network of 11,500 post offices – the biggest single retail network in the UK. Metro Bank is fulfilling a role for the banking needs of central London but Post Bank would serve the whole country, from city centres to rural areas and would help to safeguard the post office network from further closures.
Lindsay Mackie, secretary of Post Bank Coalition, said: "Today we’ve seen that it is possible to set up a new bank in the UK. Metro is starting small and is intended to make a profit for its backers- while this brings a bit of diversity to the banking system, it by no means has the reach, social purpose and huge public trust which a Post Bank would embody.
"Post Bank provides the best opportunity to bring affordable and trusted banking services to communities across the UK by using our amazing network of post offices. The government gave us a commitment to Post Bank and it’s time to make that promise a reality - particularly since 78 per cent of the public according to our polling want a new model of bank run in the public interest."
Research by the Federation of Small Businesses shows that only 16 per cent of small businesses have recently applied for credit and of those 37 per cent have been declined.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd