International Visitors from Peru and WOCCU

International Visitors From Peru and WOCCU Visit League Member Credit Unions

L-R: Kinecta FCU VP Information Technology Juan Luna, Manuel Rabines, Kinecta FCU Vice President of Marketing Kathryn Davis, Enrique Miyasato, Kinecta FCU Vice President of Business and Community Development Nicole Valentin-Smith, Victor Corro, Kinecta FCU Interim President and CFO John Carson, Vice Prsident of Retail Operations Charmaine Velez, Miguel Hatada, and Kinecta FCU Vice President of Communications Nancy Task

ABACO CU's Chairman of the Board Enrique Miyasato and Vice Chairman Miguel Hatada, National Federation of Credit Unions in Peru (FENACREP) CEO and World Council of Credit Union's (WOCCU) Board Treasurer Manuel Rabines, and WOCCU International Partnerships Manager Victor Corro recently visited credit unions in California.

The group met with various credit unions to learn about products and services, lending, credit scoring, marketing, collections, risk management, investments, branch management, shared branching, community outreach programs, and how the credit unions demonstrate and promote the credit union difference.

ABACO CU was established in 1981 and is the largest credit union in Peru. The credit union currently holds more than $69 million in assets and serves more than 6,200 members. It is interesting to note that ABACO CU's Enrique Miyasato and Miguel Hatada were born in Peru, but are of Japanese descent. In Peru, there is a large population of Peruvian Japanese who speak Spanish and Japanese. The international visitors requested to visit credit unions that serve predominantly Japanese Americans and a large credit union in the Torrance area that offers shared branching.

L-R: Victor Corro, Miguel Hatada, League International Relations Manager Letty Cordon-Hernandez, JACOM CU CEO Ken Takemoto, Enrique Miyasato, Manuel Rabines, and JACOM CU Branch Manager Chris Hatanaka

The international visitors first visited JACOM CU where they met with CEO Ken Takemoto and Branch Manager Chris Hatanaka. The following day, they visited Nikkei CU and met with CEO Erick Orellana and two Nikkei CU board members, Sho Matsumi and Byron Yoshida. The guests also attended Nikkei CU's annual meeting that evening, which had an overwhelming attendance of more than 400 Nikkei members.

On the final day of their trip, they visited Kinecta FCU and met with Interim President and CFO John Carson, VP Retail Services Mel Calloway, VP Marketing Kathryn Davis, VP Information Technology Juan Luna, AVP Security and Administrative Services Patti Perez, VP Communications Nancy Tack, VP Finance Mary Torsney, VP Business and Community Development Nicole Valentin-Smith, and VP Retail Operations Charmaine Velez.

Miyasato, Hatada, Rabines, and Corro said their visits with the League member credit unions were thoroughly informative and proved to be extremely beneficial. The visitors were very impressed with the information they received and expressed their sincere appreciation for the assistance provided by the League and its member credit unions.

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.