The group working on the data project has decided to become a real SRG. A name was chosen— SRGs in Ctrl. Core to being in an SRG is to save money and give loans, a way of building trust within the group and between the group and other external parties like banks.
On the last Wednesday of every month each member of the SRGs in Ctrl is to save £5. How to save? There isn’t one financial mechanism for the SRG movement; members use various methods depending on level of comfort, trust, and access to financial institutions.
The group decides to borrow a banking system used in another innovation, Street to Scale. This in an innovation giving small amounts of funds (via a fintech who issues expense cards) to groups of citizens to do good in their communities. The group asks for four expense cards, held by four elected individuals, to represent the four regions where the members come from.
What is the downside? Trust.
At the moment, each sub-account is connected to the main Street to Scale account, which means that the group needs to trust a stranger with their money (person from Street to Scale team who transfers the money from the main to each sub-account). Mediation via a stranger (rather than direct access to the bank sub-account) adds time to the process so funds in the SRGs in Ctrl can appear delayed. As one member put it, you are used to transfer of funds to be instant; if it’s not, then where is my money. You start to doubt.
Notwithstanding the limitations, there is £165 saved in the SRGs in Ctrl bank account.
Parallel conversations have been taking place with some of the members about an ideal financial system, one that members trust. The result is summarised in the diagram below.
