A brand new branch of the London Mutual Credit Union (LMCU) in Brixton recieved a grand opening on Thursday 18 November, giving those who live, work, study or volunteer in Lambeth and Southwark the opportunity to access affordable financial services.

The branch at 10 Acre Lane provides the credit union with a high street location, made possible through funding from Lambeth First and Lambeth Council to refurbish the site, which had remained empty for a number of years.

Officially opening the branch alongside Councillor Sally Prentice, Ian Jackson, Lambeth First's Director, emphasised the important role of that the credit union plays in the borough.

"As a partnership we're committed to ensuring that residents aren't excluded from the financial services they need" he said. "The London Mutual Credit Union is run by its members - Lambeth's residents and employees like you and me - and provides savings schemes and affordable loans to help people when they need it. Lambeth First are delighted to have supported the opening of this new high street branch so that more people can make use of its vital services."

London Mutual Credit Union (formed in March 2010 after a merger between the Southwark Credit Union and the Lambeth Savings and Credit Union) is a financial co-operative that exists to benefit its members. LMCU provides their members with access to reasonably priced financial services and encourages the development of good financial practice.

So what does good financial practice mean? Well they have a range of helpful options open to customers which encourage them to save, invest and look after their finances, as well as make sure they are getting the best rates of interest on their loans, rather than borrowing from more expensive sources of credit.

If you would like more information you can visit www.creditunion.co.uk, phone 020 7787 0770 or email them at info@creditunion.co.uk

The new branch is situated at 10 Acre Lane, Brixton, London, SW2 5LL. Opening hours are 9:30am and 4:30pm, Mondays to Thursdays or between 11am and 4:30pm on Fridays.

Louis McLeod receiving his OBE
Louis 'Roy' McLeod has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List this year in recognition of his 25 year service to London Mutual Credit Union (Former Southwark Credit Union).

When Roy became involved with the credit union it had only 237 members and £170,598 in assets. In March 2008 the credit union had 8,600 adult and 1,200 junior members with £7,623,545. Today the figures are even higher.

Roy has been instrumental in taking London Mutual from a small ineffective organisation to being one of the leading lights in the British movement.

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Louis McLeod, Lakshman Chandrasekera, Tony Anthrobus receiving the recognition.
Honorary Liberty of the London Borough of Southwark has been awarded to Southwark Credit Union (New name London Mutual Credit Union)

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We have extended our catchment area to include the London Borough of Lambeth. This means that if you live or work in the London Boroughs of Southwark or Lambeth, you can now become a member of this credit union.

To reflect this change, we have changed our name to London Mutual Credit Union.

We have done this in order for us to help the credit union in Lambeth - the Lambeth Savings & Credit Union was experiencing some difficulties over the past year. By helping other co-operatives we are truly adhering to our co-operative principles - "
Co-operation among Co-operatives - Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures".

The members of the Lambeth Savings & Credit Union are now members of the London Mutual Credit Union (LMCU). Formerly known as the Southwark Credit Union, LMCU is one of the fastest growing credit unions in the country and the largest community credit union in London. This expansion will bring even more new opportunities for the LMCU and its membership and ultimately will help to achieve our mission of providing our members with access to reasonably priced financial services and encourage the development of good financial practice

We are so proud that our credit union so far has helped the membership of four other credit unions in and around Southwark.

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Lakshman Chandrasekera meeting with the Prime Minister

London Mutual Credit Union (formerly known as the Southwark Credit Union) was invited to attend the reception on Wednesday 18 March at 10 Downing Street. Louis McLeod the Treasurer and Lakshman Chandrasekera, the CEO attended the event

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