What is a community bank?

Our community bank is regulated just like any other high street bank and does just about the same thing but with a few big differences.

We are member-owned. This makes us a cooperative, which means every member owns a little part of the bank along with other members.

We’re also not-for-profit, which means we can make a profit (called surpluses) but this income goes back into local communities to help create and grow local economies.

Supporting local communities

Our surpluses are used to provide competitive banking products, pay dividends to members (a bit like profit-share) and provide support and grants to local communities via our foundation.

Unlike big banks, we serve and support local communities rather than national or international societies.

We don’t just say we’re a local bank. We mean it.

People who join us normally need to live within a location surrounding the bank to make sure it really is a local bank. This means our members know their deposits are ethically invested in their local communities and designed for community growth.

Credit Unions and Community Banks tend to fall into two categories:

  1. The sole aim to support the financially excluded

  2. The broader aim to support and encourage local community banking

While they are not mutually exclusive and alleviating financial inclusion is a key aim, we fall into category 2.

  • If you are looking for somewhere to save, you'll be doing good for you and your local community.

  • If you are looking to borrow, we guarantee lower rates than the top ten high-street banks.

How safe is a community bank.

Wessex Community Bank is a solid and safe place to invest your money.

We are well capitalised with significant liquid capital and reserves.

We are debt-free with no subordinated debt, deferred shares, external investors or stakeholders.

Our capital ratio is more than triple the level required by our regulators

Dual regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (213757) and The Prudential Regulatory Authority and protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.