Over 50 attendees from credit unions, trade associations, regulators, universities and other interested organisations from Britain and Ireland, joined an online seminar facilitated by the Swoboda Research Centre (formerly known as the Centre for Community Finance Europe), and the Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) at the University of Bristol, to consider the increasing evidence of potential harmful gambling within credit union member loan applications and how - or if - credit unions should respond.

A poll of attendees at the outset of the seminar asked: ‘Do credit unions have a responsibility to identify and support members who are at risk of financial harm from gambling?’

• 29% of attendees answered ‘Yes, absolutely’,
• 60% ’Yes. To some degree,’
• 7% ‘Maybe a little,’ and 3% were ‘Not sure’.
• No-one responded ‘No, not at all.’

This is a summary of the seminar, which is the first stage of a research project to develop a guide to best practice in this area for credit unions.