Parity Trust believes in the importance of local businesses to the economy.

We aim to assist in the growth of sustainable, successful enterprises across our local area, generating prosperity and promoting aspiration of opportunity within our community.

We will achieve this through the development and delivery of innovative financial products and support services that meet the needs of the local business community.  Our primary focus will be on social enterprises and charities trading on a not-for-profit basis.

Parity Trust is currently reviewing its services and products to deliver against these objectives. At the present time (July 2011 until further notice), we are not in a position to provide unsecured loan finance for business start-ups or firms seeking cash flow injections for expansion.

Amongst our new products, we are developing a new service for social enterprises and community organisations which will provide support for those entities seeking to grow their assets and initiate new project work. Further information will be available later this year.

Local project; The South East Coastal Communities programme ended on 31 March, and over the past 3 years had provided a forum and access to resources to explore and test issues in social enterprise development. During April 2011, Parity Trust organised an event for local social entrepreneurs, which aimed to share the knowledge gained during the project and discuss how the sector could move forward to achieve a sustainable future for people in our communities, promoting aspiration, enterprise and tackling worklessness. For more information about the project, visit the SECC website.