PRESS RELEASE: Wednesday July 11th 2012
TOP LONDON MUSIC STUDIO LEADS CAMPAIGN TO GET BUSINESSES TO MOVE TO ETHICAL BANKS.
The Premises Studios Ltd, a world famous studio complex, used by hundreds of stars such as Ronnie Wood, Ben E. King, Macy Gray and Madness is working with the campaign Move Your Money UK to pave the way for small businesses to move their money to ethical banks.
Premises MD Julia Craik says:
“As a business we’ve always done what we can to act responsibly and we’ve decided that banking with Barclays is no longer a viable option for us. We won’t be associated with a corporation that appears to act in such a corrupt and fraudulent manner, so we’re off! We believe this is the best way to force change in the financial sector, as leaving it to the courts of justice and the government just isn’t working.”
The Premises Studios estimates its turnover at around £500k per annum and as Julia Craik points out “If just 100 small businesses with cashflow similar to ours leave their banks then the banks will lose businesses with an annual turnover of £50 million – that’s going to hurt”.
In collaboration with Move Your Money UK, The Premises Studio is therefore urging other small businesses to join them in pledging to move their money and begin the process of switching to more ethical and socially responsible banks and business societies. Since the beginning of this year, Move Your Money UK estimates that an average of 80,000 savers have been moving their money out of the big banks each month. www.moveyourmoney.org.uk
Move Your Money spokesperson, Marloes Nicholls, said:
“Following the huge demand from individuals to find out about the broad range of banking options available to them as an alternative to the big high street banks, we are delighted to see an interest from small businesses to move their money too.
The Premises’ decision to move their money comes as no surprise. Local and small businesses have suffered massively from the financial crisis, and recent scandals including the mis-selling of rate hedging, show that the big banks have no care to support the real economy.
The Premises are setting a great precedent for other small businesses who have had enough of the big banks, and their move will raise awareness that businesses, as well as individuals, can take action to build a better banking sector. The impact of small businesses moving their money will significantly help the socially responsible banking sector to grow and strengthen the clear message to the big banks that customers will no longer accept their behaviour. Move Your Money UK is also working now to be able to help charities and local authorities to move their money in the future.”
The Premises are moving to Triodos Bank: Charles Middleton, Managing Director Triodos UK says: “We believe that money can be used consciously to support social and environmental change for the benefit of all. We were delighted to support the Premises with their solar powered studio and are even more delighted that they and many others are now thinking about the power of their money to make a positive impact.”
Lisa Stanley, Head of Communications at Triodos Bank, reports that “New business accounts (savings and current accounts) opened are more than treble what they were for the same period (Dec– June) last year.”
Viv Broughton, CEO of The Premises Studios, says “We’re just one of many small businesses who bank with Barclays and we’ve decided that enough is enough. Barclays Bank seems to have become little more than a criminal enterprise engaged in fraud and deception on a grand scale and we want nothing more to do with them. We are therefore closing our account with Barclays and switching to an ethical bank. In doing so, we are urging other businesses who value their integrity, to do the same.”
Julia Craik explains why switching to a sustainable bank like Triodos makes good business sense:
“Once we’ve switched our banking we can tell our clients that any money they pay will be going into a sustainable model of banking and in the current climate this gives us a great business edge. None of our clients’ studio fees will be given to the fat cats, they will be used in a fully responsible manner – a much better way of doing business all round we think.”
The Premises are also talking to Ethecol Merchant Services CIC, a social enterprise that provides ethical card payment services to a growing number of small businesses, charities and credit Unions.
Businesses interested in moving their money should contact Move Your Money UK on facebook ‘Move Your Money UK’, twitter @MoveYourMoneyUK, or by email: Marloes@moveyourmoney.org.uk. More information about the campaign is available on the website www.moveyourmoney.org.uk.
The Premises Blog giving full information is on their campaign is here: www.premisesstudios.com/blog/
Notes
Contact Julia Craik from The Premises Studios 020 7729 7593. Email: info@premisesstudios.com website: www.premisesstudios.com
Move Your Money UK’s press contact is Louis Brooke. Mobile: 07725 461679 Email: louis@moveyourmoney.org.uk
Triodos Bank press contact is Lisa Stanley. Telephone: 0117 980 9721 / 07983 002013 Email: lisa.stanley@triodos.co.uk
Examples of other banking options
CCLA provide high street equivalent banking services to charities, faith groups and local authorities:
Unity Trust offer banking for civil society, social enterprises, CICs, councils and trade unions
The Cooperative Bank offer business accounts
Charity Bank provides loans for charities, social enterprises and community organisations