As part of Association of British Credit Union Limited (ABCUL)’ ongoing commitment to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion across the credit union sector, and to mark Black History Month 2025, ABCUL spoke with our Muna Yassin, about financial resilience, the ethnicity premium, and the power of representation and collaboration in shaping a fairer financial system.

In an excerpt from the interview Muna discussed Debt, Inequality and the ‘Ethnicity Premium’

“The scale of structural inequality in the UK is powerfully illustrated in the Runnymede Trust’s Colour of Money report, which found that Black African and Bangladeshi households hold ten times less wealth than white British households. This stark gap isn’t merely a reflection of income differences, but the result of deep-rooted inequities in housing, credit, employment and financial access.”

Muna continues, on how she sees inequality play out daily through Rooted Finance’s work.

“We’re seeing a cycle of disadvantage that’s baked into the system,” she says. “Our data shows that Black and minoritised communities are more likely to experience problem debt, but less likely to access mainstream debt advice or fair credit. And when they do borrow, they often pay more – what we call the ‘ethnicity premium’. Imagine two people with the same job, income, and postcode – but one pays more simply because of their ethnicity. That’s not a coincidence; it’s systemic bias. Tackling it means rethinking how we design products, how risk is assessed, and who gets to make those decisions in the first place.”

Read the full blog on the ABCUL website here