In 2022 Clockwise is celebrating 30 years of serving the local community!

Clockwise was established in 1992 as ‘Highfields Community Credit Union’-  an anti-poverty initiative of the churches in Highfields.

Based at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Highfields its founder, Fr. John Lally, was supported by an enthusiastic bank of volunteers who championed the services the credit union provided.

We are thrilled to be celebrating our 30th Anniversary. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the last 30 years…

  • 1992

    Launched as Highfields Community Credit Union.

  • 1994

    Reached 200 Members.

  • 1994

    Became first British Credit union to twin with an Irish Credit Union – Castlebar Credit Union.

  • 1997

    We paid our first dividend of 5% to members & opened first school bank at Sacred Heart primary School.

  • 2001

    We changed our name to Leicester Credit Union.

  • 2002

    We became Clockwise Credit Union, covering Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. We also employed our first member of staff – Teresa Manning.

  • 2005

    We reached 1000 members & moved to our first city centre office at Pocklington’s Walk.

  • 2006

    We became one of the first community credit unions to offer Cash ISA’s.

  • 2008

    We opened our second office in Melton Mowbray.

  • 2009

    We launched the Clockwise current account & reached 5000 members.

  • 2010

    We purchased our present office at 1 St. Nicholas Place.

  • 2012

    Celebrated our 20th Anniversary and membership reached 7500.

  • 2014

    Total lending to members since our launch reached £20 million.

  • 2015

    We launched Engage pre-paid card for our members.

  • 2017

    We celebrated our 25th Anniversary & launched our Community Grants Scheme to support local charities and community groups.

  • 2018

    We launched Clockwise Mobile App and was awarded Five-Star Fairbanking Mark for our loan products. This was also the year we became an accredited Living Wage employer and launched our Rewarding Borrowers Scheme – an interest rebate for all our good borrowers.

  • 2019

    We were happy to be awarded Cyber Essentials Plus mark

  • 2020

    We presented our first Social Impact report and reached 15000 members. Our CEO was awarded MBE for services to Financial Inclusion and the credit union sector. We also moved to agency banking via Starling Bank – meaning our members now benefit from access to real-time in-bound and out- bound payments 24/7.

  • 2021

    We merged with New Central Credit Union, Coventry. Our common bond now covers: Leicester, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Coventry, and Warwickshire. Our loan book reached £7.5 million. Our assets reached £13 million and our membership is over 20,000.