Global Regulatory Update Spotlights Link Between Climate and Finance

MADISON, Wis.—Sustainable finance will become an increasing area of focus for national-level regulators across the globe this year as financial institutions expand investments in clean energy loans and other environmentally-friendly products.

That’s one of the key developments World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) International Advocacy team will be watching, as outlined in its 2022 Global Regulatory Update for Credit Unions and Financial Cooperatives.

“Sustainable finance will transform the regulatory landscape for credit unions on many fronts, including investments, governance, disclosures, reporting and products. Credit unions are well positioned to demonstrate their value within social considerations given their unique model, which supports local communities,” said Panya Monford, WOCCU Assistant General Counsel of International Advocacy.

Greater financial inclusion made possible through guidance from international standard setting bodies that emphasizes the importance of proportional regulatory treatment for credit unions is also a major focus for 2022.

“Proportionality continues to be a priority for World Council and is necessary for the tailoring of regulations to the size, risk and complexity of the institution. Rules should be adopted that reflect the unique nature of the credit union cooperative model. They need to reflect the systemic importance, the cross-border activity (or lack thereof) and, more generally, the risks to which they are exposed. We know that the failure of national-level regulators to use proportionality, which is inherent in most international standards, can lead to or compound financial exclusion,” said Monford.

World Council’s Global Regulatory Update is put out on an annual basis to help credit unions and financial cooperatives prepare for the compliance issues most likely to impact them in the year ahead. The new edition also covers several other leading regulatory issues affecting credit unions across the globe, including:

• Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
• Payments.
• Digitalization/Cybersecurity/Cryptocurrency.

You can read the entire 2022 edition of World Council’s Global Regulatory Update by clicking here. To hear a conversation with Panya Monford and Andrew Price, World Council's Senior Vice President of International Advocacy and General Counsel, listen to Episode 9 of the Global Credit Union Podcast.

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 300+ programas de asistencia técnica en 90 países. A nivel mundial, 74,634 cooperativas de ahorro y crédito en 104 países atienden a 411 million de personas. Obtenga más información sobre el impacto global del Consejo Mundial en www.woccu.org.