British Credit Unions Encouraged to Go For Gold

Great Britain Development Educators (DEs)pose with WOCCU delegation (also DEs)

Great Britain—During 25th Anniversary of the 1979 Credit Union Act celebrations at the Association of British Credit Unions, Ltd. (ABCUL) Annual Meeting, World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. chairman, L.R. (Bobby) McVeigh complimented ABCUL and member credit unions on their accomplishments in the last 25 years and encouraged them to go for gold in the next 25 years.

Credit unions in Great Britain have grown, especially the last 10 years.

	1993	2003
ABCUL affiliated credit unions	270	444
Total Members	85,000	365,000
Average Members per credit union	315	822
Average Shares/Savings per Member	377	803
Average Loan per Member	118	540

McVeigh continued, "Since July, 2002 credit unions in Great Britain have become an integral part of the financial system, by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) taking over the supervision of credit unions and setting the minimum prudential standards, for which WOCCU's PEARLS monitoring system has been used as guidance. The PEARLS project will ultimately generate the goals of creating a sound and safe alternative network of socially driven financial institutions and providing access to affordable financial services."

McVeigh also drew the attention to the record 700 participants of the Blackpool conference and the creation of the ABCUL Foundation, which will hold the first Development Educators (DE) program for credit union leaders in September. The program is based on the model developed by National Credit Union Foundation (U.S.) and World Council.

During the conference ABCUL chief executive officer, Shaun Spiers announced he would retire in order to pursue other activities in the Great Britian. He was thanked by ABCUL's board for the success with which he has advanced ABCUL and credit unions during his tenure. Board leadership changes also occurred, with the chairman of the ABCUL board, Richard Collier completing his term. He will be remembered for his dedication to the credit union legislative issues in the Great Britian as well as in the European Union. Mary Henderson, development educator was elected as the new Chairwomen by her fellow board members at the Annual General Meeting.

El Consejo Mundial de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito es la asociación gremial y agencia de desarrollo para el sistema internacional de cooperativas de ahorro y crédito. El Consejo Mundial promueve el crecimiento sustentable de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y otras cooperativas financieras en todo el mundo a fin de facultar a las personas para que mejoren su calidad de vida a través del acceso a servicios financieros asequibles y de alta calidad. El Consejo Mundial realiza esfuerzos de defensa activa en representación del sistema global de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito ante organizaciones internacionales y trabaja con gobiernos nacionales para mejorar la legislación y la regulación. Sus programas de asistencia técnica introducen nuevas herramientas y tecnologías para fortalecer el desempeño financiero de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y profundizar su alcance comunitario.

El Consejo Mundial ha implementado 290 programas de asistencia técnica en 71 países. A nivel mundial, 51,000 cooperativas de ahorro y crédito en 100 países atienden a 196 millones de personas. Obtenga más información sobre el impacto global del Consejo Mundial en www.woccu.org.