532 Yorkshire jobs created from Unity Trust’s £4.2m investment

While publishing its third Social Impact Report, Unity Bank Trust has revealed that it has created 532 jobs after investing almost £4.2m in nine Yorkshire and the Humber organisations that are committed to community, social or environmental benefit during the past year.

As well as making 57 loans worth £29.9m in 2014, the bank also created and protected 3,423 jobs throughout the UK.

Unity’s £7.5m lending to Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) is responsible for creating 93% of the total jobs, with 529 jobs created through on-lending by CDFIs in Yorkshire and the Humber.

As the UK’s leading provider of finance to CDFIs, Unity lent £330k to Finance for Enterprise, a CDFI based in Sheffield and a key deliverer of business advice, support and loan funding in the area.

This investment enabled Finance for Enterprise to recruit 133 more people across Sheffield and South Yorkshire and leverage an additional £500k in funds as part of the Regional Growth Fund match-funding programme.

Unity also uses its customer deposits to fund loans that help create housing, community assets and office space. The bank’s lending is split across charities (53%), CDFIs (25%), Registered Social Housing Providers (16%) social enterprises (4%) and industrial and provident societies (2%).

Claire Trenaman, relationship manager for Yorkshire and the Humber at Unity Trust Bank, said: “Finance for Enterprise’s business support and lending distribution has helped support SMEs and entrepreneurs in the region, creating jobs and economic activity. With Unity’s investment, it has been able to leverage additional funds and increase its social impact in communities throughout the Sheffield and the surrounding area.”

Peter Kelly, director of business development and marketing at Unity Trust Bank, added: “In 2013 we declared our £100m lending target over three years. We’re well on our way to meeting this and look to the future with anticipation and determination. As we continue to grow, we will continue working to increase our social impact, engraining our founding principles into every aspect of our business strategy.

“We want to become the go-to bank for the civil society, providing businesses and organisations nationwide with financial services that will allow them to grow their social impact, just as we seek to grow our own.”