LONDON (Zimbabwe Investor) - Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom are mulling setting up their own financial institution by way of a Credit Union to attend to their specific banking needs.

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Credit Union Limited, according to the promoters, is a bank that will cater for all Zimbabweans who live and work in Great Britain and Northern Ireland offering them various financial products.

“By creating our own credit union, which caters for all Zimbabweans who live and work in the United Kingdom, we will be able to reward sustainable behaviour by offering better interest rates for Loans, Mortgages, and supportive loan programs for those who lack credit ratings” read part of the memo circulated via email by one of the idea’s promoters Barbara Nyagomo.

The memo goes on to say, “We are no longer willing to participate in the non-ethical use of our financial resources. That is why those of us in the Zim Diaspora Credit Union Limited decided to undertake the task of forming a credit union based on Zim Diaspora ethics”

The credit union is seeking authorisation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), UK’s financial regulator, and registration with the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL). ABCUL is a trade association for British credit unions.

In November 2009, the FSA tightened the rules for credit unions by increasing capital and liquidity requirements to offer better protection for customers and avoid failures and defaults. Changes by the FSA on require smaller unions to meet a minimum capital-to-assets ratio of 3 percent -- previously they only had to be solvent -- and have raised start-up capital requirements to 10,000 pounds for small unions and 50,000 pounds for larger ones.