As part of ‘Move Your Money’ month, a campaign to encourage citizens to move their deposits and savings out of the big 5 high street banks and in to more ethical financial providers, the Brixton Pound (B£) local currency is joining forces with London Mutual Credit Union (LMCU) to make local money go further.

The Brixton Pound Community Interest Company will be moving its ‘reserve’ sterling account away from a high street bank to LMCU, South London’s largest credit union.

This means any Brixton residents buying Brixton pounds – which exchange at a 1:1 rate – will know their sterling will be supporting local residents whilst their B£s supports the local economy.

LMCU makes low-cost ethical loans to South Lambeth residents and has a focus upon supporting financially excluded residents who cannot get finance from the big banks or face paying extortionate rates of interest from Pay-Day-Loan providers.

The B£ is able to move its money because new legislation that has just passed in parliament allows credit unions to have organizational as well as individual members.

LMCU is having a special Saturday opening on 24^th March from 11am-4pm to encourage people to create an account.  Customers need to bring two forms of ID to the office on 10 Acre Lane.  They can take advantage of a competitive 3% ISA product recently launched by the Credit Union as well as affordable loans.  A long queue is expected outside the door to join up!

Residents wishing to use Brixton £s also have the chance to register for a B£ Pay-by-Text electronic bank account, enabling them to make purchases with their mobile phones.  Customers using the system will receive a 10% bonus – so that for every £10 sterling they credit their account with, they will get B£11.00 to spend with participating businesses.

“London Mutual Credit Union is the ideal partner for the Brixton £”, said Simon Woolf, the Brixton Pound’s Managing Director. “By moving our money in this way, anyone spending Brixton pounds knows they are not just supporting their favourite local businesses but also people on low incomes in their neighbourhood who benefit from the Credit Union’s ethical loans.  It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Lucky Chandrasekah, LMCU’s Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted to have the Brixton Pound CIC as one of our first organizational members.  Their investment means we can grow stronger and compete more effectively with the Pay-Day-Loan companies that often land residents in damaging cycles of debt.  We also hope that Brixton Pound users and businesses will consider moving their savings accounts to the credit union, helping us further.”

Josh Ryan-Collins, B£ co-founder and Senior Researcher at local think tank nef (the new economics foundation), said:

“It has been well over three years now since the financial crisis and people still don’t see any meaningful reforms to our dinosaur banks.  But here in Brixton we’re ensuring our money goes not into damaging financial speculation and banker’s bonuses but to those parts of our economy that need it most: small businesses that create jobs and low income residents facing increased hardships with government cuts.  This is another step along the road to a more sustainable local financial system that puts people first.”

As a customer, you can register for the system here. You will be sent an email asking you to confirm your registration with instructions about setting up your account.  To start spending B£e’s in participating businesses, you will then need to transfer funds from you bank account to the B£ Community Interest Company account and we will credit you with B£es, including the 10% bonus. So if you transfer £10 you will be credited with B£e11.
The B£ CIC bank account details will be sent in the registration email.  We recommend setting up a standing order to keep you account topped up.

It may take up to 24 hours to credit your account.  You’ll also be able to check if your balance has been credited by sending a text to the B£ e-bank (07797 880200) in the following format: “bal  [pin code]”

How does it work?

Once you have an account set-up you can Pay by Text in 2 simple steps:

1) You send a text to B£e bank (07797 880200) instructing payment to a B£ business with your unique PIN, the businesses’ username and the amount to be paid.

e.g. “pay 1234 whitehorse 12.99″ (1234 is your pin and whitehorse is the business username, which will be displayed prominently in each business)

2) B£e bank will send a text to both the B£e business and the customer confirming the transaction and payment received.  The transaction is then complete.

See the video below to see how the system works:

The Brixton Pound – “Pay By Text” in action from Brixton Pound on Vimeo.

Come and celebrate the launch of the UK’s first local electronic currency and unveiling of the new B£ 2nd edition notes at the Brixton Pound’s 2nd Birthday:

Thursday 29th September 2011 @ The Electric (formerly The Fridge), Town Hall Parade, Brixton. 7pm – till late.

To register for your free ticket to the B£ 2nd Birthday please go to: http://brixtonpound2ndbirthday.eventbrite.com

At the event there will be:

• The Launch of the UK’s first electronic local currency, allowing customers to pay by text or on-line for goods in Brixton businesses who accept the B£ e-currency. For more information go to: http://brixtonpound.org/b-e-currency/

• The unveiling the new B£ notes (2nd edition) – featuring a new set of Brixton Heroes, including some very famous ex-Brixton residents.

• Brixton Pound Market & Business Stalls selling food & drink

• Live music/DJs

Our program:

7:00pm     Doors open – Urban75 DJs
7:30pm    Welcome – Trevor Lock, Comedian and Brixton resident
7:40pm     Chuka Umunna – MP for Streatham & Shadow Minister for Small Business & Enterprise
7:50pm     ”Pay by Text” introduction and live demo – Josh Ryan Collins, B£ team
8:15pm      Derrick Anderson, Lambeth Council CEO
8:25pm      Blacker Dread – local entrepreneur and music producer
8:30pm      Unveiling of new notes – Charlie Waterhouse, B£ team
8:40pm     Speeches close and thanks – B£ team

And then…more Trevor Lock, live music by James Pyke Hip Hop artist, El Crisis spoken words master (tbc), and some very locally sourced DJing, as well as food stalls, a chance to buy our new notes, some good old mingling and generally meeting some very nice people of course.  Till late.

For Press & Media Enquiries please contact:

Rebecca Simpson, Press Manager, Brixton Pound, E: mediabrixtonpound@gmail.com

Gold and silver-backed currencies are seeing a reawakening in the Muslim world, particular in South East Asia where financial crises since the late 1990s have led to a collapse in confidence in paper money. Following the Asian currency crisis of 1997, then Prime Minister of Malaysia proposed introduction of Islamic gold dinar as currency for international trade in the Muslim world.  It was intended to replace the US dollar and, as a gold-based currency, provide a medium of exchange more stable than the dollar. Mahathir announced that Malaysia was to start using the dinar in mid-2003, but the plan was abandoned when he lost the leadership.  Despite this, markets and ordinary citizens trade with gold as an alternative currency throughout Malaysia – see www.publicgold.com.my.  And in the UK, organisations such as the Gold Dinar Exchange and FREE are challenging the monopoly of the big banks on trade and currency.

As the Euro and Sterling continue to be buffeted by the financial crisis and enormous national public deficits, the time may be coming to consider backing the B£ with something real… Brixton sauce perhaps?