Since 2001, the bank has grown across Hampshire and Isle of Wight, acquiring several other micro banks including, Isle of Wight Credit Union and Havant Credit Union.
Today, we serve central southern England including all of Hampshire & IOW, as well as, Bournemouth, Reading, Woking, Guildford and Newbury.
Governance & Regulation
Wessex Community Bank is a fully regulated not-for-profit member-owned cooperative bank
Authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (213757)
Regulated by the Prudential Regulatory Authority
Part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
Member of the Financial Ombudsman Service
Member of the FairLife Charity
Registered Mutual Society (641C)
Financially strong and reliable.
We’re a financially strong bank which is well capitalised with a highly liquid balance sheet conservatively and ethically invested.
Our capital ratio is more than triple the level required by our regulators and we do not carry any external sources of debt. We do not have any subordinated capital or deferred shares and have significant reserves.
Our risk attitude is cautious/balanced with a sustainable and pragmatic governance approach.
Unaudited indicative ratios 2023/24
Debts:
Subordinated debts ~ £0
Deferred shares ~ £0
Grants received ~ £0
Other borrowings ~ £0
Regulatory Ratios:
Liquidity (narrow) ~ 21%
(broad) ~ 76.1%
Capital adequacy (CAR) ~ 21%
Net charge-off (narrow) -4.6%
(Broad) –1.6%
Financial Ratios:
Return on assets (ROA) ~ 0.3–0.32%
Net return on investments ~ 2.4–2.6%
Net return on loans ~ 8–9%.
Loan-to-shares ~ 31%
Summary:
We’re performing above expectations with strong reserves, high liquidity, positive earnings, and no external debt.
Members should be pleased with a resilient balance sheet and steady, sustainable progress. With solid capital and ample liquidity headroom, we’re well placed to grow lending prudently, improve returns, and reinvest more into member value and community impact.
The Board of Directors
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Dr Hugh Mason
Chairman | MLRO
Educated at Cambridge (MA) and Swansea (PhD), he has taught economic geography at the University of Portsmouth since 1968 and authored three books. Hugh has held senior union, church and political roles in Portsmouth, including a local councillor and holding various cabinet posts.
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Angela Hickmore
Non-exec Director | Secretary
Board-experienced recruitment and professional services leader with 25+ years running start-up, growth and turnaround businesses across PLC, private and PE-backed firms, specialising in executive search, interim management and leadership advisory with deep UK/Irish retail financial services experience. Previously Group MD at Norman Broadbent.
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Andy Smith
Non-exec Director.
A board-level business and technology transformation advisor, helping organisations build customer- employee- and regulator-focused agility. Formerly a COO/CIO and transformation lead in banking, lending, insurance and payments, Andy has led pan-European change programmes delivering multimillion-pound efficiencies.
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Alun Williams
Non-executive Director
A retail financial services veteran with leadership roles at Barclays, Coventry Building Society, NS&I and Shawbrook.
A former marketing and commercial director, he drives growth across sales, marketing and customer service grounded in data, technology, product and operations with strong risk/governance. -
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Keeley Clements
Non-executive Director
An energetic transformation leader with deep B2B/B2C and SME experience, delivering optimisation, growth and customer-led change across UK banking, payments, global payroll and M&A, with senior roles including COO, CCO, Programme Director and advisor in financial services, PE-backed firms and local government.
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Steve Betteridge
Non-executive Director
Steve has 35+ years in financial services leading payments operations, shared service centres, and risk & compliance across Lloyds Bank, the Bank of England, HMRC and the Rural Payments Agency. Steve is an experienced non-executive and committee chair with board roles at the Rural Payments Agency, Turkish Bank UK, Koine Money and the Retirement Lease Housing Association.
