Credit union members, finances expanding, reports BCCULL

The Barbados Co-operative Credit Union League Ltd (BCCULL) is reporting an increase in new members and financial growth over the last financial year.

President of the BCCULL Kemar Cumberbatch said that among the league’s affiliate societies, almost 7 000 new members joined the movement, taking the total membership from 231 046 to 238 042.

On the matter of assets, Cumberbatch reported that there was also a satisfactory increase in that area, with asset growth up by 3.42 per cent, moving from $3.03 billion to $3.14 billion over the last financial year.

“For the first time, last year the sector’s loan book crossed the $2 billion threshold, while total savings of our affiliates saw year-on-year growth of 3.33 per cent, moving to $2.75 billion,” Cumberbatch said, as he delivered remarks at the Annual General Meeting of BCCULL held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill St Michael over the weekend.

Noting that the increase in new members was satisfactory given the already extensive membership base among the Barbados population, the BCCULL president pointed out that the growth occurred even as the number of credit unions was reduced by one on account of consolidation.

He indicated that while Courtesy Credit Union merged its assets with United Enterprise, these kinds of consolidation are expected to continue with the league supporting this course of action as the merging of smaller affiliates will likely create larger and stronger units that benefit the membership.

Cumberbatch informed members that another key development in the process towards reaching the goal of Deposit Insurance (DI) for credit unions was the establishment of the Cross Regulatory Working Group which held its first meeting in August.

“August was an active month for the League. Due to the significant progress being made on DI, we brought back our principal consultant, Dave Grace of Dave Grace & Associates, for our comprehensive engagement with the key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance & Economic Affairs, our main regulators – the FSC [Financial Services Commission] and the Central Bank, as well as BDIC [Barbados Deposit Insurance Corporation]. Of course, we also facilitated a very important session with the management and directors of credit unions across the island,” he said.

“That process allowed us to understand the current views directly from officers and yielded critical information on how the process is likely to unfold. With regard to the next steps, one, The target date for the preparation of draft legislation has been given as December 31, and two, The establishment of Minimum Standards for entry to the DI programme is also coming.”

“Importantly, the League will be very involved in that process, but all the requirements and standards will be agreed to within the context of the Working Group. The League will have a say, but ultimately, the BDIC and the regulators will play a critical role in determining those minimum standards,” Cumberbatch added.
(AH)