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The sector needs a Quaker bank 2

Governance | Paul Gibson | 23 Feb 2012

Paul Gibson says the sector would benefit if a modern Quaker bank was founded.

We all know of the successful Quaker businesses of Cadbury, Bourneville, Fry, Clark, Bryant and May and Huntley and Palmer. Perhaps less well known is that these businesses were supported by leading-edge Quaker banks.

Today, Lloyds TSB Group is one of our biggest banks. The original Lloyds bank was established in response to a banking crisis around 1640 when King Charles I “appropriated” £150,000 from the Royal Mint to spend on his army. By the 1700s, the modern banking system was beginning to emerge. Quakers had a reputation for honesty and fair dealing and were well placed to benefit. In 1765, what was to become Lloyds bank was created by button maker John Taylor and iron producer Sampson Lloyd II.

Another Lloyd family member married Charles Barclay, who worked at Freame, Barclay, Freame and Co – now Barclays bank. There are many other links between early Quakers and our banks. We are trying to recreate that spirit.

What would a modern Quaker bank look like and how can we form one? The idea of a Quaker bank is an initiative of a working group of the Quakers and Business Group, recognised by the national Quaker movement1. The Quaker bank will be run in sympathy with Quaker ways and will be open to all. Depositers, borrowers, trustees and staff will be bound together in common cause, as was the case in earlier times.

The working group will hopefully form the nucleus of a future board of trustees if the initiative is successful. The working group needs three other attributes. It needs to understand the history of the Quaker movement in banking and also have the trust and confidence of current Quaker members to translate their values into a modern bank. Finally, it needs to have transformational skills, to change the way we think and act, without necessarily being part of governance going forward.

Understanding the current context

Some organisations, such as the Samaritans, have a federated structure where independent, local groups adopt a constitution and working practices set by a national body. Most churches have a looser structure and the Quakers are no exception. There are about 70 groups called ‘area meetings’ across Britain, with 500 subsidiaries called ‘local meetings’. There are also a number of independent Quaker charities who run centrallymanaged work in Euston, schools such as Friends School, Saffron Walden and who hold endowments, such as Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

We need to understand the attitudes of these various organisations to the proposed bank and reflect this in our planning. As a decentralised organisation, we do not need the consent of any central authority but we do want to build legitimacy.

Current thinking

At this stage, the bank won’t be regulated by the Bank of England because of the cost and complexity, although this remains an aspiration. Instead, it will be a shop window, with backoffice services delivered by a licensed bank.

The bank will have charitable, social, ethical and environmental aims. It will also have a spiritual dimension, recognising that prosperity does not depend just on economic growth. It will be true to our testimonies of truth, equality and justice, simplicity, sustainability and peace. There is a lot of work still to do. But I believe that, in these challenging political and economic times, this bank is relevant and needed more than ever.

Paul Gibson is a member of Quakers and Business Group

These are Paul’s personal views. As he explains, he uses the word bank descriptively and not in a legal sense.

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