George Blunden
Chair George Blunden says the public is beginning to realise there's an alternative to high street banks
The social lender Charity Bank has announced a threefold increase in the number of people registering new savings accounts in the first half of 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year.
The bank said that between 1 January and 30 June, 440 new customers had opened accounts, compared with 140 during the same period in 2011.
The figure represents a rise of roughly 20 per cent in total depositors, from 2,120 to 2,560.
The bank, which has a balance sheet of £85m and has made about 1,000 loans to charities, said in a statement that visits to its website and savings enquiries had doubled in the previous week.
"Dissatisfaction with the high-street banks is driving people to take action," said George Blunden, the bank’s chair. "Ordinary members of the public are beginning to realise that there is an alternative to depositing their savings in commercial banks, where they will have no idea what use their money is put to."
