Regulators' Panel Examines Current Supervisory Developments Across the Globe

Carolina Bohrer and Dave Grace

A group of international regulators and supervisory specialists explored the most pressing developments currently trending across the globe during a Monday afternoon breakout session. 

Dave Grace, Executive Director of the International Credit Union Regulators' Network (ICURN), said one topic remained at the top of the list for attendees of a recent ICURN conference.  

"One was, no surprise, cybersecurity. In fact, some of our members who were supposed to be there canceled at the last minute because of cybersecurity events. There was another regulator there that was dealing with a live event as the conference was going," said Grace, who also mentioned governance as an ongoing concern. 

For Carolina Bohrer, Head of the Licensing Department at the Central Bank of Brazil, the challenge of financial institutions maintaining both a physical and digital presence in at-risk areas of cities and rural communities is a pressing concern. 

"In this past year, the number of cities where credit unions are the only in-person alternative for a financial products and services has grown significantly. So, right now in Brazil, we have 469 cities all over the country where credit unions are the only physical alternative for transactions," said Bohrer, citing that number accounts for 8% of all cities in country. 

WOCCU Vice President of International Advocacy Paul Andrews hosted the panel, which also featured Elaine Byrne, Registrar with the Central Bank of Ireland and Chair of ICURN, and Patrick Kilemi, Kenya's Minister of Cooperatives and MSMEs.