Kenyan Parliamentarians Learn About Credit Unions

Kenya delegation in Pennsylvania.

Madison, WI—Credit unions and credit union organizations played host to a World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU) delegation of six Kenya Parliamentarians, four Ministry of Cooperative officials, a Central Bank official and four individuals representing the Cooperative sector. The group met with the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association to learn how the United States league structure works to provide service to their credit union members. While in Pennsylvania the parliamentarians also were able to visit Belco Community Credit Union, Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU and officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Banking.

"In our efforts to help Kenyans develop credit unions, we have had the opportunity to look at ourselves to see how we can do better for our credit unions," explained Pennsylvania CU Association President and CEO, Jim McCormack.

The delegation also spent time in Washington, DC, meeting with the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for two days. Meetings with NCUA representatives the delegation's goal was to bring information back to Kenya to form the country's credit union legislation and regulation, modeled after the United States credit union movement. At NCUA the delegation was greeted by chairman Dennis Dollar, vice chair JoAnne Johnson and board member Deborah Matz. Other staff members were also able to give an overview of NCUA and United States credit union laws, regulation and enforcement. Special attention was also given to analysis methodology and tools, prudential management requirements, loan portfolio analysis and problem credit union actions.

NCUA representatives and the Kenyan delegation take time to pose for a photo during a meeting at NCUA in Washington, DC.

Erick Sile, WOCCU technical officer and participant in the delegation explained, "Most presenters gave an opinion on the draft bill that the Kenyans are about to present to their parliament. This trip was an eye-opener to the members of parliament who can now better understand the importance of having a credit union law and also the necessity of having supervision of credit unions performed by an independent agency. There is no doubt they will champion this initiative and probably convince the other members of parliament to pass this new credit union act."

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.