On 24 June 2025, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published Consultation Paper 13/25 – Credit Union Service Organisations (CP13/25).

In CP13/25 the PRA sets out proposed rules and expectations for credit unions who invest or wish to invest in Credit Union Service Organisations (CUSOs). CUSOs are entities that are owned by credit unions and provide shared services to them, thereby providing economies of scale benefits.

A number of CUSOs have been set up across the UK but rules in the Credit Unions Part of the PRA Rulebook may prevent a credit union from holding an interest/investment in a CUSO, depending on how that interest is structured. The PRA is therefore proposing to amend its rules to make it clearer that credit union investments in CUSOs are permitted, while providing ‘guardrails’ to manage the associated prudential risks.

The PRA’s proposals will result in changes to the Credit Unions Part of the PRA Rulebook (Appendix 1) and a new chapter of PRA Supervisory Statement (SS) 2/23 to mitigate prudential risks inherent in CUSOs. This will include minor amendments to chapter 17 of SS2/23 resulting from the PRA’s proposed deletion of SS20/15.

In CP13/25 the PRA assesses the expected costs and benefits of the proposed changes to be of minor impact to credit unions and the wider sector. It further proposes a maximum of 5% of a credit union’s capital to be invested in a CUSO to mitigate the associated risks discussed.

Next steps

The deadline for feedback to CP13/25 is 24 October 2025.