Included as part of a package of measures in the Autumn Budget to support affordable credit and the credit union sector, HM Treasury has now announced 15 credit unions participating in the pilot, with incuto in place to deliver the scheme.

HM Treasury’s new savings scheme for credit unions offers cash prizes to savers. It is designed to boost awareness and membership of credit unions with the end goal of helping people increase their financial resilience.

incuto’s technology solution for credit unions enables these organisations to digitise their service and compete more effectively with banks and short-term, high-cost lenders. It has 1.1 million accounts on its platform so will play an instrumental role in coordinating the credit unions participating in HM Treasury’s pilot scheme.

Andrew Rabbitt, CEO, incuto comments: “Credit unions and community-based lenders offer a viable and more ethical alternative to short-term, high-cost credit such as that offered by payday lenders. We’re delighted to partner with HM Treasury on this exciting project. It has never been more important to raise awareness of credit unions, and take steps to counter the financial hardship and exclusion which can result for some people when turning to pay day lenders.”

John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister is spearheading this prize-linked savings scheme for credit unions. He comments: “Connecting credit unions to innovative Fintech solutions will play an important role in raising awareness and driving membership of social and community lenders. I’m very pleased we’re partnering with incuto on our prize-linked savings scheme and I look forward to seeing the pilot up and running.”

The 15 credit unions participating in the pilot include: 1st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union, Bradford District Credit Union, Central Liverpool Credit Union, Clockwise Credit Union in Leicester, East Sussex Credit Union, Lewisham Plus Credit Union, London Capital Credit Union, Merthyr Tydfil Borough Credit Union, Nottingham Credit Union, Riverside Credit Union in Liverpool, South Manchester Credit Union, Westcountry Savings and Loans in Portishead, Commsave Credit Union, Plane Saver Credit Union and Police Credit Union.

Andrew Rabbitt continues: “Our technology allows credit unions and other community-based banks and lenders to digitise the customer journey, as well as tackling financial exclusion via access to a bank account, sort code and debit card. Alongside the technology, partnerships with Starling Bank, Post Office, Vocalink, Telefonica, Mastercard and Experian give people better access to free-to-use services. It’s not just about enabling people to manage their money online, it’s about giving them financial freedom and the same level of interaction and engagement that they would receive from a high-street or online bank.”

incuto’s banking platform also offers credit unions a complete transactional system including branch interface, CRM, transaction engine for loans and savings, accounting, GL and treasury and document management.