Championing Advocacy in the International Year of Cooperatives

WOCCU International Advocacy hosted three more breakout sessions on Tuesday, including one that explored how the United Nations declaring 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives is helping credit unions and other cooperatives advance their advocacy initiatives.

Erin O’Hern, WOCCU International Advocacy and Regulatory Counsel, participated in the panel discussion, which also included Nina Schindler, CEO of the European Association of Cooperative Banks.

Schindler talked about how cooperative banks face many the same regulatory challenges as credit unions.

“We have the same anti-money laundering (challenges), cybersecurity as well on a European level, and just to add to that, financial inclusion,” said Schindler, who added that differentiating cooperative banks from commercial banks is a cyclical process thanks to constant changes in national-level governments.

O’Hern said just like cooperative banks, credit unions are always advocating for proportional regulatory treatment in comparison to large commercial banks.

“So, we are continuing to share that message but again, to Nina’s point, every two years you have to share to share the same message to make sure that they’re (standards) staying updated as new individuals and new representatives come in (to office),” said O’Hern.