WOCCU actively monitors and participates in the policy development of numerous international organizations to ensure credit union interests are represented in the formation of international standards. The Bank of International Settlements, International Accounting Standards Board, United Nations and World Bank are all organizations currently forming policy, establishing frameworks and developing standards at a global level that can impact credit unions.

Credit union organizations and policymakers seeking to reform their legislative or regulatory environment for credit unions or financial cooperatives may contact Michael Edwards, chief counsel and vice president for advocacy and governmental affairs, for assistance or to explore WOCCU's wealth of resources on best practices in credit union legislation and regulation.

WOCCU advocates the interests of credit unions to the following organizations:

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is an international committee established by the Bank for International Settlements to formulate policy on prudential standards and best practices among financial regulators. WOCCU represented credit unions to the Basel Committee during its development of a more risk sensitive approach to capital adequacy. The Basel Committee completed its formation of a new Capital Accord in 2004. For more information on the Basel Capital Accord, click here.

Webinar: New Basel Committee Capital and Liquidity Proposals. To view this webinar, please click here. On April 7, 2010, Neil Esho of the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision presented on the future international rules. View Neil Esho's PowerPoint presentation.

Summary and Request for Comment

Basel Committee's Proposed "Definition of Capital Disclosure Requirements"
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has released for public comment a new consultative document that will, when finalized, set forth the international standards for disclosures of financial institution regulatory capital components. The purpose of this new disclosure is to standardize the presentation of a financial institution's capital position in order to "enable market participants to compare the capital adequacy of banks across jurisdictions...." The Basel Committee will be accepting comments on the consultative document until Feb. 17, 2012. Please provide any comments that you may have on this proposal to World Council of Credit Unions by Feb. 10.

Download a copy of World Council's "Summary and Request for Comment," which includes instructions on how to submit comments.

International Accounting Standards Board

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) develops global accounting standards for adoption and implementation by national level accountancy boards to achieve consistency in standards. WOCCU works with IASB to monitor issues relevant to credit unions.

Webinar: IFRS for Credit Unions. To view this webinar, please click here. For individual presentations, click on the following: Holly Skaife (University of Wisconsin − Madison), Gary Rogers (CUCC Canada), Eli Zgonjanin (FULM Macedonia).

Financial Action Task Force

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body that sets standards, develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. FATF’s Forty Recommendations on the prevention of money laundering were revised in June 2003 to include obligations for both the financial and non-financial sector. WOCCU’s briefing paper on FATF highlights the impact on credit unions.

Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Worldwide Credit Union Environment

To download this podcast, please click here.

Regulation of International Remittances

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. regulatory agency created by the Dodd-Frank Act to write and enforce consumer financial protection laws, released on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, its long anticipated final rule regulating consumer international "remittance transfers" that are sent from the United States to recipients in other nations. The 417-page final rule will come into effect one year from the regulation's publication in the Federal Register. World Council is concerned that a number of credit unions that provide international "remittances" as defined by the rule will face challenges in complying with the new regulation. For more information, please see World Council's summary of the CFPB regulation and the news release.