DENVER–A delegation of representatives from the World Council of Credit Unions has returned from a visit to Cuba, where they talked about launching the financial co-ops on the island.
WOCCU President Brian Branch said the WOCCU group was in Cuba last week. While releasing few details of those discussions in remarks at the joint WOCCU World CU Conference/CUNA America’s Credit Union Conference here, Branch shared that the Cubans with whom WOCCU met had plenty of questions about credit unions and after decades of communist government, even expressed some surprise at the idea of democratic member control.
“One thing we take for granted is the power of credit unions in periods of (government) transition,” said Branch. “(Credit unions are) the first time many people get to participate in an election and hold people accountable. It’s the first time many are exposed to the concept of good governance.”
Meanwhile, in other remarks at the meeting here, Branch said the number-one challenge to all credit unions around the world is regulation, with the second challenge being competition in the payments space. But credit unions leaning on their inherent strength—a willingness to work together—can overcome those challenges, Branch said. Another common problem he said is the sustainability of small CUs in all countries.
“We all look for lessons from each other on how to increase membership growth,” said Branch. “And when we talk about membership growth very often we talk about how we provide a very compelling value proposition, especially for young adults. We have more common challenges today than ever before, because many of the regulatory pressures we feel have their origin in the international standard setters, such as BASEL, and the Financial Stability Board, and the European Commission. When they set these standards they are setting them for the largest international banks with cross-border operations. They are thinking of the 200 largest FIs in the world. They are not thinking about us. So we consider it very important to bring to their attention the impact these rules are having on us, on mutuals, on community-based institutions.”
In terms of challenges in the payments space Branch said there is “no turning back” from expectations with mobile.
“Credit unions that have been successful with young adults have done so in mobile and have a compelling value proposition for young adults,” he said.
Mobile is also helping credit unions reach populations that have not been reachable (or feasible) in the past, Branch added.
“In many countries around the world we find large populations dispersed in rural areas earning less than $2 or $3 per day, where there is not sufficient population density for a credit union branch,” said Branch. “For them to leave their work and travel to town to a credit union to do a transaction on a small deposit or small loan, and then pay the costs to travel, it’s too expensive for them. So we find credit unions in Asia and South American and Africa who have brought great creativity to this process. They send out mobile agents or set up POS networks in little villages. They set up mobile networks. This digital revolution is not just a challenge, it’s a great motor for tremendous outreach and service to our mission.”
While there will always be challenges, Branch is optimistic about the ability of credit unions to not just survive, but prosper.
“Despite the challenges, credit unions persevere. And not just persevere, they grow. Because it goes back to our mission. We empower. We champion the common person. Those of you in this room have much more in common with each other than in contrast. What makes credit unions different is the passion we have to provide service to our members. We see it when we put the benefit of the member first before the profit of our institution.”
Branch said there is no doubt credit unions will reach the membership goal WOCCU has set. “We will reach 260 million members by 2020. That’s work we will do together,” he said.