Burnley Savings and Loans (BSAL) is an independent lending company based in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, England. It was founded by David Fishwick, a local businessman, in 2011. The scheme gained media attention after Fishwick's early efforts were captured in a series for Channel 4 in 2012, including his call for Parliament to reform the banking system. In 2017, BSAL applied to become a UK regulated bank, "The Bank of Dave", offering an expanded range of products to an expanded audience.

History

During the 2007–2008 financial crisis, Dave Fishwick felt that the existing banking system needed change as he believed that traditional high street banks were not lending enough money to people or small businesses, and that they were held in a negative view by the wider population, particularly because of the ' bonus culture' that benefited the banks' employees. In response to this, he assembled a small team and began lending through BSAL by personally underwriting all loans and assessing the risk of each loan by studying the business models and repayment plans of his customers. Since opening, the scheme has lent to thousands of customers, mainly centred around

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and the north of England. After six months of trading, BSAL had returned a profit and passed it on to various charities, including local food banks and community centres. The company reported that by 2022 it had given loans totalling over £27 million to thousands of businesses and people.

Media coverage

BSAL has received media attention since it first opened in 2011. In July 2012, the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

series ''Bank of Dave'' was broadcast in the UK and was aired, later, around the world by various broadcasters. It followed the creation of the scheme as it opened its doors to the public. In February 2013, a follow-up Scottish BAFTA winning episode named ''Bank of Dave: Fighting the Fat Cats'' was shown. Fishwick's book, ''Bank of Dave: How I Took On the Banks'', describing the venture, was also released that year. A film, '' Bank of Dave'', based on Fishwick's efforts in setting up BSAL, was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in 2023.

Lobbying

Since the first series of the Channel 4 series aired in 2012, Fishwick has continued to lobby Parliament to reform the UK's banking system, which has received support from former Shadow Business Secretary

Chuka Umunna Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham (UK Parliament constituency), Streatham from 2010 United Kingdom general election, ...

MP, who supported the idea of a bank looking to "serve and grow the local economy rather than just for profit and serving the shareholders". Steve Baker MP, former member of the Treasury Committee, has said, "It is towards this model that the world should move".

References

{{reflist 2011 establishments in the United Kingdom British companies established in 2011 Companies based in Burnley Financial services companies established in 2011 Financial services companies of England