pcusharesSeptember 2016

InsideWork experience for Jabril 2Creating amazing young people 2Supporting the PCU throughprayer 2What Brexit means for the PCU 3Board meets for annual strategy meeting 3Focus on: Customer care 4Support to build your business 4Loans and savings products 4

News from the Pentecostal Credit Union

The Youth Shadow Board have completed filming‘Gimme Dat’, their video for the PCU.

More to life than ‘Gimme Dat’On the roadfor the PCUThe PCU Roadshow is goingwell and doing a great job ofbringing in new members.

So far, we’ve visited churches andchurch groups in Croydon, Mitcham,Forest Gate, Willesden, Luton andBirmingham. We will be returningto Birmingham in September, toreach out further to Pentecostalchurches in the Midlands.

The Roadshow will come to an endon 30 October, but it’s not too lateto involve your church. We can offerfree workshops around moneymanagement, debt and the value ofsaving – at a time that suits yourchurch or group

For more information, emailinfo@pcuuk.com, or call ElaineBowes on 020 3793 5769.

Made with the help of Christianrapper Tneek, the film looks at howmaterialist young people can be. Itencourages them to think again abouthow they spend their money andbecome ‘money wise’ instead –because it’s wisdom, not wealth, thatgets you through life successfully.

The video will launch in October topromote the PCU to young people.

Above: Rapper Tneek with Montelle andReece from the Youth Shadow Board.

Above left: The three with Richard(Director of Photography), Laja (CameraOperator) & Ricardo (Camera Assistant).

The PCU would like to thank: The NewTestament Assembly in Tooting, ChicUnique Hair Salon in Brixton andChicken World Acre Lane for their helpin the making of this video.

Creating amazing young peopleThe PCU has partnered with the New Life AssemblySupplementary School to provide a Youth Leadership andEntrepreneurship Development Programme for membersof our Youth Shadow Board and young people from theNew Life Assembly Church.

Work experiencefor JabrilJabril Isaak joined PCU for ashort internship in August togain valuable work experiencebefore starting Year 11 atschool.

Jabril is aiming for a career ininvestment banking, so we gavehim hands-on experienceshadowing Lauren Humphris – ourLoans and Business Administrator.During his time with us, he learnedhow to process loans and handlewithdrawals, and found out howthe credit union works.

“My time here has been great,”Jabril told us. “I'm being treated asa full member of the team andthey are really engaging with me. I also get to see what Shane does.

“The team here have a greatunderstanding of young peopleand there are strong reasons whyyoung people should join the PCU.Once you become a member youown part of it. The team here aretrying to make it even better thanit is. They have a goodunderstanding of their customers.”

What Brexit means forthe PCU A word from our CEO...

Board meets for annual strategy meeting

‘#CreatAmazing’ will be deliveredfor us by Romeo Effs and his teamat the Empire Builders Academyand will aim to develop andempower our next generation ofleaders.

The programme is designed to helpyoung people:

• build confidence, • enhance their leadership skills• explore their vision and personal

aspirations• help them overcome any limiting

fears and anxieties, and • develop the right approaches and

attitudes, so they can create thefuture they want, whether that’sin business, academia or a career.

The course will consists of a seriesof training workshops with threecore modules: Leadership, Money

management and Your next boldmove.

There will be follow-up support,with entry into an Executive InsightLeadership Masterclass and theBoldness in Business Bootcamp.The young people will also haveaccess to a circle of successfulyoung entrepreneurs, who willsupport their development.

The programme will start inOctober.

5-year bond for new customers andrelaunched a 5-year bond at 1.5%.

What this means formembersThe PCU returned a gross dividend toits members of 1.5% in May 2016,which, even when compared to pre-Brexit rates at many high streetbanks, is highly attractive. Withsavings rates likely to plummet stillfurther, British savers are faced withthe prospect of savings rates fallingbelow the rate of inflation.

Members of the Pentecostal CreditUnion are in a unique position,however, in that deposits held at PCUhave never attracted a dividend ofless than 1% since the inception ofthe union in 1980. Members areencouraged to continue to use PCUas a safe place for their deposits,especially in view of the meagrereturns available to savers in thewider bank market.

Pentecostal churches, who are alsomembers of the PCU.

The five who joined us for lunch andprayer (pictured below left) were theRev. Currie from the United Church ofGod, the Rev. Jean Pierre from theNew Testament Assembly, the Rev.Brown from the Assemblies of theFirst Born, the Rev. Bent from NewLife Assemblies and Bishop Thomasfrom the Faith Chapel.

The Rev. Jones said: “The mainpurpose of the prayer meeting is tosupport the magnificent task beingcarried out by the leadership team ofthe PCU. This is our responsibility assenior Pentecostal Leaders in GreatBritain. I very much hope that wemight be able to replicate this onceper annum.”

Supporting the PCU through prayerAt the AGM in March, members agreed there shouldbe periodic prayer meetings to bolster the PCU.

The Rev. Jones hosted the first ofthese ‘PCU Lunch and Pray’ events atour office on 14 July. He was joinedby five senior pastors and leaders of

Following Britain’s decision toleave the European Union, theBank of England cut interest rateson 4 August 2016 from an alreadyrecord low of 0.5% to 0.25%, toprevent a post-Brexit recession. TheGovernor of the Bank of England alsoannounced £60 billion worth ofquantitative easing measures, whichfurther reduces the value of cash.

As a result, one of the UK’s biggestbanks, HSBC, and its subsidiary FirstDirect, announced drastic reductionsin the returns offered to savers. From18 October 2016, it will cut its ISArate from 1.4% to 0.9%, whilereturns on its bonus saver accountsare set to fall from 0.75% to 0.4%.

Other banks and building societieshave responded in a similar fashion.For example, the Coventry BuildingSociety has slashed its online saverrate from 1.5% to 1.15% from 1 September 2016. Skipton BuildingSociety has withdrawn its 2.01%

Other ways Brexit mightaffect you• Holidays and visits are already

costing more because thepound has dropped in valueagainst the Euro and the dollar.

• More quantitative easing fromthe Bank of England haslowered the yield on bonds –this is affecting people whowant to retire, because theyare being offered muchsmaller annuities.

• The cost of living is likely toclimb from next year, asinflation is expected to rise.

• Without a change ofgovernment, austerity cuts arelikely to go beyond 2020.

In July, the Board met for aweekend of brainstorming on thetheme of ‘Defining the future’.

It was the Board’s annual strategymeeting, where the Directors reviewour performance, refocus our businessand set new targets, with the help ofan expert independent critic.

The meeting focused on refining thePCU’s values and mapping ourcurrent operations. The Board thenexplored potential future directions,redefined the PCU for the future, anddrew up a roadmap of the key actionswe would need to complete.

This work feeds into the PCU’sstrategic business plan, whichestablishes our objectives over athree-year period. We are now settingout our direction for 2018-2021.

Pentecostal Credit Union Limited 15 Oldridge Road, Balham, London SW12 8PL Phone 020 8673 2542 Email info@pcuuk.com Web www.pcuuk.com /pentecostalcreditunion @PentecostalCU

The Pentecostal Credit Union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (FRN 213242).

To check how satisfied you are, we’vecommissioned the services of AccuityResearch and Practice – an experiencedmarket research company, with manyyears experience when it comes tocarrying out customer satisfactionsurveys.

From 1 September 2016, Accuity willbe contacting new members and newloan customers on our behalf.*

They will invite you to take part in avery short customer survey. You canrest assured that Accuity will complywith the Data Protection Act and allother requirements when it comes tohandling customer data.

Accuity will provide us with highquality reports, complete with theirindependent and impartial analysis.

What they tell us will help us toimprove our services and engage withyou better. They will give us betterinformation about what you wantand what it takes for you to besatisfied with our service. They willalso report back on how you foundour performance and makesuggestions for improvement.

* Please note that Accuity won’t contactcustomers who opted out on theirapplication form.

We aim to achieve excellence in customer care, so your viewson our services really matter to us.

Support to buildyour businessPCU is partnering with theEmpire Builders Academy todeliver Business Builders’workshops.

Whether you’ve been in business fora long time, are new to the world ofbusiness, or want to start your ownbusiness, this workshop is for you.

We are just in the planning stages,but if you’d like to find out moreor register an interest, please phoneElaine Bowes on 020 3739 5769 oremail elaine.bowes@pcuuk.com

Need a loan?A PCU Instant Loan of up to£3,000, repayable over 24 months,is available to all members – evenif you’re new – providing you meetour affordability and credit checks.

For more details go to the loans pageat www.pcuuk.com or call the office.

Join the PCU and get a £30 deposit!If you’re under 18 and you open a credit union account, the new EquianoBenevolent Gift Scheme, set up by Christians, will pay your membership feeand start your account with a deposit of £30.

Call 07708 311 066 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm) to find out more.

Focus on: Customer care