Credit Union Journal: Parliament's Brexit rejection won't make life easier for credit unions

January 16th, 201930450 The British Parliaments rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan is making things even more difficult for credit unions across the pond.  For the last two years, credit unions and ordinary Britons have faced uncertainty as Great Britain's efforts to leave the European Union dominated the political agenda, leaving little room for credit union interests. And that's likely to continue given Parliaments refusal Tuesday to sign off on May's deal with the EU.  "One of the most obvious impacts of Brexit to date is the inability to progress with legislative or regulatory change for credit unions," said Matt Bland, head of...

Stress testing reg burdens made 'proportional' at World Council of Credit Unions' urging

October 22nd, 201847517 On Oct. 17, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a revised Stress Testing Principles standard that will significantly reduce the regulatory burdens of stress test on credit unions and other community-based financial cooperatives. Earlier this year, the World Council of Credit Unions urged the "proportional" approach to stress testing adopted by the Basel Committee. Stress tests of credit unions and other community-based cooperative depository institutions are based on this Basel Committee standard and will now be implemented by regulators on a more proportionate basis, based on the size, complexity, resources and risk profile...

U.S. credit union exec elected Chair of World Council of Credit Unions Board of Directors

July 18th, 2018456627 The new leader of the World Council of Credit Unions Board of Directors hails from the United States. Steven Sapp, president and CEO of Unitus Community Credit Union in Portland, Ore. formally took office during the World Credit Union Conference General Session on July 17 in Singapore. "Although I come from the U.S., I consider myself a global ambassador of credit unions — a servant of the people. World Council and the work of those that have gone before us have brought us together. We must not forget that we drink the water from the well that others have dug, but now is our time to take this work forward," Stapp said. "The challenge...

Latin American credit unions visit Georgia CUs

June 25th, 201844480 Georgia credit unions and Georgia Credit Union Affiliates recently hosted credit unions from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay for a "global classroom" learning initiative. The three-day event in May was coordinated through the World Council of Credit Unions, which reached out to Georgia for a study tour in the Atlanta area to explore how credit unions there use technology, partnerships, core systems, CUSOs and products to provide their members the services they need for now and in the future. The Latin American visitors met with the BOND Community Federal Credit Union and GCUA on May 7, visited GEMC Federal Credit Union and...

Kazakhstan Agro-Industrial Association becomes part of World Council of Credit Unions

April 24th, 201830356 The World Council of Credit Unions Board of Directors recently approved the membership application for the Credit Unions of Agro-Industrial Association of Kazakhstan.  "Extending our welcome to the first ever member from Kazakhstan to the World Council's membership base, we support their active participation and are pleased to continually expand the reach of the global credit union movement," said WOCCU President and CEO Brian Branch. The Kazakhstan Agro-Industrial Association was established in 2013 to provide representation, advocacy, promotion, information, education, traning and marketing services for credit unions in...

Glasgow credit union visits Peach State FCU

March 9th, 201848150 A credit union from Glasgow recently visited Peach State Federal Credit Union for educational purposes. NHS Credit Union considers Peach State FCU a partner. "We now look forward to welcoming our Peach State partners back to Glasgow to show them more of what this city has to offer," NHS CEO Robert Kelly said in a Glasgow Chamber of Commerce article. The Scottish credit union members also visited CUNA's GAC Conference in Washington D.C. on their trip to the U.S. "We had the chance to see how the world leaders from the credit union industry went about their business, develop connections that will prove invaluable and listen to...

World Council of Credit Unions urges changes to Financial Stability Board's document on Bail-in Execution

February 7th, 201837126 The World Council of Credit Unions took issue with some portions of the Financial Stability Board's recent consultative document on best practices for bail-in execution. The Financial Stability Board is an international body that monitors the global financial system and makes recommendations about how the system's players should operate. The board can't pass any laws to govern financial institutions, but its best-practices and frameworks are often picked up by jurisdictions and national authorities looking to implement financial laws and regulations, according to the FSB's website.  FSB wrote its consultative document titled...

World Council of Credit Unions welcomes new member from Haiti

January 8th, 201861222 A credit-union owned league from Haiti became the latest member of the World Council of Credit Unions as 2017 drew to a close. WOCCU's board of directors unanimously approved the membership application for the Association des Caisses Populaires Haitiennes, a 100-percent credit union-owned organization in Haiti that offers advocacy, governance, IT support, education and training to its affiliates, according to a WOCCU press release. ANACAPH has 49 credit union affiliates with 763,000 members and total assets of $96 million. Credit unions in Haiti are supervised by the Central Bank of Haiti. "We are pleased to welcome ANACAPH to...

EU works with credit unions to better business lending

November 17th, 201728110 Recently, European Union officials sat down with industry advocacy groups to discuss how the governing body could help credit unions increase lending to small- and mid-size businesses. According to a WOCCU press release, the Nov. 7 meeting in Brussels was constructive. Members of the European Parliament and European Commission – two branches of the European Union –  talked over EU-backed solutions to credit union’s business lending concerns. It was a different conversation than the one credit unions officials are having with law makers in the United States,  where federal regulation blocks CUs from lending more than 12.25 percent...