The founder of a charity set up to help people in Guernsey reduce financial exclusion is retiring after a decade.
Peter Neville launched Guernsey Community Savings (GCS) in 2019 to help people on the island who cannot get a normal bank account – after about five years’ setting it up.
Mr Neville said “demanding” regulation from the banking sector had made it “more and more essential for people to have access to bank accounts”.
“Without an account, they simply cannot participate fully in society, whether that is by paying bills, receiving wages and benefits or tapping a card in a shop,” he added.
Mr Neville will be succeeded as GCS Chair by James Ellis, a former banker who has held leading roles in several local charities, including Guernsey Round Table, 41 Club, and Maison Saint Pierre.
Mr Ellis has also worked with At Home in Guernsey, where he has supported fundraising, housing development, and projects for people experiencing homelessness.
Stability and dignity
Since September 2020 GCS has supported people facing a wide range of challenges, including poor credit histories, family breakdowns, absence of necessary documentation, and troubled pasts.
It has provided around 200 people, who would otherwise have been excluded from the financial system, with access to accounts and linked debit cards and offered money‑management guidance to many more.
“Those numbers represent real people who have gained stability, dignity, and a fair chance,” Mr Neville said.
Mr Ellis said GCS “was only possible because of Peter’s unique set of qualities… [which helped] to tackle the issues facing the financially excluded in our island”.
He said he was “delighted” when Mr Neville asked him to take over “and further expand his vision, which I share, to provide help in the form of bank accounts, debit cards and financial education and to realise our ambition to provide grants and soft loans where needed”.
Mr Neville would remain involved as Life President to ensure a “continuity of the principles that established GCS”, Mr Ellis said.
