Local banking with bigger reach.
Wessex Community Bank is a member-owned, not-for-profit community bank serving people and communities across a large part of Central Southern England.
From Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to areas including Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Andover, Winchester, Guildford, Woking, Reading and Newbury, our membership brings together people from across the region.
Find out if you can be part of our Community Bank.
Join us because we reinvest everything back into the things that matter: competitive loans, rewarding savings and long-term support for the people and communities we serve.
So what makes Wessex Community Bank different?
It really comes down to four things: who owns us, what we do, why we do it and the part our members play in making it all work.
We’re owned by the people who bank with us.
Wessex Community Bank is a member-owned, not-for-profit community bank. We don’t have outside shareholders telling us what matters most or taking profits out of the organisation. The people who save and borrow with us collectively own the bank.
We help people save, borrow and manage their money.
We offer personal loans, savings accounts and community banking services. And because we’re part of the communities we serve, we also support local groups and organisations through our wider community work.
Of course we need to make money. But that isn’t the whole point.
A bank has to be financially strong, so making a surplus matters. The difference is that ours stays within Wessex Community Bank. It can be used to build reserves, improve services and help us keep doing more for our members and communities.
Without our members, there isn’t a Wessex Community Bank.
Every time someone joins us, saves with us or borrows from us, they help make the bank stronger. That gives us more capacity to keep improving what we offer and to keep serving other members.
What do our customers say about us
From local credit union to modern community bank.
Wessex Community Bank began in 2001 with a simple idea: local people should have access to fair, ethical and responsible financial services.
Since then, we have grown across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Central Southern England, developed new savings and lending products, invested in digital banking and built a stronger, more sustainable cooperative bank for our members.
A brief history of Wessex Community Bank
Select a year to follow some of the moments that shaped the organisation we are today.
It started in Portsmouth.
Wessex Community Bank began life in 2001 as Portsmouth Savers Credit Union, created to provide accessible, ethical financial services to communities across Portsmouth, Havant, Fareham and Gosport.
Growing across Hampshire.
By 2007, the credit union had widened its common bond to cover the whole of Hampshire, allowing many more people to become members and use its savings and lending services.
Connecting communities across the Solent.
In 2011, the organisation acquired the Isle of Wight Credit Union, extending its reach and bringing together members across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Preparing for a digital future.
A major digital transformation introduced online and mobile banking while maintaining telephone support and personal service. It marked an important shift towards the modern, digital-first community bank Wessex would become.
Rethinking what a personal loan could do.
We created the 'Cashback Loan'. It introduced a different approach to borrowing. Members repay their loan while building savings, helping turn repayment into an opportunity to establish a financial buffer and stronger saving habits for the future.
The Wessex Community Bank Foundation.
The Foundation was created to increase the bank’s community impact, including providing grants to local groups and organisations and supporting projects that create meaningful benefits within the communities we serve.
Expanding across Central Southern England.
Our membership area continued to grow to include communities around Bournemouth, Andover, Newbury, Reading, Woking, Guildford and surrounding areas, creating a broader and more diverse cooperative membership.
A stronger, broader community bank.
Today, Wessex Community Bank combines modern financial services with the cooperative principles that shaped its beginnings. Our approach draws inspiration from successful credit union and cooperative banking models in countries such as Germany and the United States, where membership is broad, inclusive and designed to serve the whole community.
Moving forward.
Wessex Community Bank remains focused on financial strength, innovation and long-term sustainability while continuing to provide competitive loans, rewarding savings and meaningful support for members and communities across our region.
We don’t just talk about supporting local communities.
The Wessex Community Bank Foundation gives us a practical way to put money back into the places we serve. We support local groups, charities and community organisations through grants and other community activity.
Helping people save
Saving a bit regularly can make a real difference. Our savings accounts give members a place to build money up, plan ahead and have something put aside when they need it.
Helping people borrow
If you apply for a personal loan with us, a real person looks at your application. We lend responsibly, but we also understand that everyone’s financial situation isn’t the same.
Helping local groups
Through the Wessex Community Bank Foundation and our community grant programme, we provide funding to local groups, charities and organisations doing useful work in the communities we serve.
Simple principles that shape how we manage members’ money.
Strong. Liquid. Conservatively managed.
We are well capitalised and maintain a highly liquid balance sheet, with members’ money managed conservatively and responsibly.
Our capital ratio is substantially above the minimum level required by our regulators, and we do not rely on external borrowing to fund the organisation.