Welsh neobank Banc Cambria gearing up for launch next year

The Welsh government is working with Monmouthshire Building Society and Cambria Cydfuddiannol Ltd (CCL) to build Banc Cambria, a community bank for Wales.

Banc Cambria is aiming for a 2023 launch

It hopes to establish 30 branches over the next decade across Wales, as scores of high street banks close branches across the UK. According to Which?, by the end of 2022 only 277 bank and building society branches could still remain in Wales.

“An increasing number of communities across Wales are now left without access to accessible banking services, which Ministers believe is an essential public service, with rural communities and those individuals and businesses across Wales, who are more reliant upon cash, and face-to-face relationship banking, being hit the hardest,” the Welsh government says.

Banc Cambria intends to provide essential retail banking services, offering multichannel, bilingual banking services for individuals and small businesses.

“The bank will facilitate local investment and enhance community wealth-building, recirculating savings into loans and preventing capital drain,” says economy minister Vaughan Gething.

“We very much hope it will provide a positive impact on communities and high streets across Wales, improving access to everyday banking services for all citizens regardless of income or wealth, as well as for small businesses across the whole of Wales.”

Banc Cambria is understood to be targeting a 2023 launch. The Welsh government first announced the project in December last year.