North West spotlight

Unity Trust Bank is proud to work with organisations across the NorthWest. This is a growing, vibrant region:Liverpool shone as the EuropeanCapital of Culture in 2008; Manchesteris the largest media hub outsideLondon; and the beauty of the LakeDistrict National Park is on the doorstop.

It’s no wonder that the North West is thriving. However, this remains aregion of contrasts. Taking into account its size, the North West has80,000 fewer people working than theUK average, 120,000 more people with no qualifications, and 38,000fewer companies.

This is why a strong social economysector is vital to the North West:charities and social enterprises help thesocially excluded and those thateconomic growth has left behind. As aspecialist bank for social enterprises,charities and trade unions, Unity

is uniquely placed to help theorganisations working to address issuesfacing the region.

We continue to support a variety ofcharities and social enterprises in theNorth West, with services ranging frombasic banking to providing loan financefor major projects. Unity has pioneeredways of lending to companies thatwouldn’t otherwise get access to thevital funding they need to succeed —work ing in pa r tne rsh ip w i thorganisations in the social economy.Such funding is vi tal to manybusinesses in the region.

Sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_England http://www.nwda.co.uk/who-we-are/about-englands-northwest.aspx http://www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/res06_context.pdf

The North West is a growing, vibrant region

Albert Docks, Liverpool

� Personal service

� Tailored, flexible banking

� Value for money

� Respected within the sector

� Safe and secure

� Socially responsible

� Understanding the needs of social economy organisations

� Convenient banking when and where you need it

One-stop shop witheverything from day-to-daybanking to specialist financial services

�

� Social values andcommunity spirit

Why do customers move to Unity?

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0845 140 1000

or visit www.unity.co.uk

Adam RuffinatoUnity Trust Bank plcPO Box 234Waterloo, Liverpool L22 5WBMobile: 07711 768131Email: adam.ruffinato@unity.co.uk

Open for BusinessMany UK banks have suffered as a result of the global financial crisis and many are choosing to retrench and shed jobs. The very opposite is true of Unity and weare “very much open for business”. Farfrom retrenching, we continue to grow our business, our customer base and our workforce.

We have never traded in sub-primeinvestments because to have done so wouldhave been against both our corporate andsocial responsibility policies.

So, whilst other banks have been focusing onthe harmful consequences of theirinvestment decisions, we have been focusing

on the day-to-day issues affecting ourcustomers and improving the range ofservices we provide to the sector. Amongstthe services we offer are:

Day-to-day banking

As a customer you will be able to operateyour bank account via the internet, over thephone, by post, at the Post Office, or bynominating a local high street bankconvenient to you. The choice is yours.

Internet banking

With our internet banking system, you haveinstant access to your accounts, you can manage your cash flow, amend and stop

standing orders and di rect debi ts , make payments and stop cheques. With dual and triple authority, you and yourcolleagues can work in different parts of thecountry and work different hours.

e-Payment

No forms to complete or postage to pay, thee-Payment service provides a range of time-saving, cost effective BACS options. Theservice allows you to make and receiveregular payments and collect membershipsubscriptions. This simple to use productdelivers services direct to your desktopwithout the need for complex softwareinstallations, and is available 24/7.

UTB261August 2009

Registered office: Nine Brindleyplace,Birmingham B1 2HB.

Authorised and regulated by the FSA. Registered in England and Wales no. 1713124.

Spotlight on the North West: Centec

Centec has a contract with Liverpool CityCouncil to deliver business start-up adviceand generates income from letting businessunits to new start-up businesses. Anyincome above its operating costs is ploughedback into the community in the form ofprojects to improve local people’s skills andhelp them into jobs.

The social enterprise needed a bank thatunderstood the sector and was willing tosupport it in its plan to refurbish a derelict sitethat would be let to local start-up businesses tohelp kick-start the local economy. “Our highstreet bank just wasn’t interested, even thoughwe had a building worth over £1m as security,”says Pat.

The organisation obtained an initial £250,000loan from the Local Enterprise Fund/CommunityLoan Fund North West to refurbish an almost-derelict site for new managed workspace unitsthat give new businesses everything they needto get going. But Centec needed a bank torefinance this loan. Pat says: “We knew therewould probably be months where, because of late payment of grants, we might not beable to make the monthly loan payment, sowe needed a bank that understood how thesector worked.”

Unity was recommended to Centec and thebank agreed to take on the loan and providea £20,000 overdraft that would enable it toride out any temporary cash flow problems.“Without hesitation, we transferred allCentec’s banking to Unity Trust, as we wereimmedia te l y impressed wi th the i runderstanding of the sector and how it

operated,” says Pat. “From the outset Unitykept in constant contact to ensure we hadeverything we needed and treated us like abus iness whi le unders tand ing our unique needs.”

The refurbished site now enjoys fulloccupancy – all the workspaces weresnapped up by 32 start-up businesseswithout Centec needing to advertise.Between the workspaces and the businessadvice Centec provides, Pat estimates thatthe organisation has contributed £4.6 millionto the local economy over the years. “It's notan exaggeration to say that much of thiswouldn’t have been possible without Unity,”says Pat.

“Unity Trust bent over backwards to help us, when our high street bankrefused,” says Pat Brand, Chief Executive of Croxteth Enterprise Training andEmployment Centre (Centec) in Liverpool. “Without its support, we wouldn’thave been able to achieve site renovations and the major expansion of ourmanaged workspace facility for the benefit of new start-up businesses, norwould we have been able to develop and diversify.”

The new Centec training rooms

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