Gary Cross (left), president of the board of Eastern Credit Union Co-operative Society of Trinidad laughs with Joscelyn Jolly, president of the board of the City of Kingston Co-operative Credit Union at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding last week Wednesday at COK's head offices.
DELEGATES AT the recently-concluded 63rd annual general meeting of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League Limited (JCCUL) in Ocho Rios, endorsed the position taken by the board of directors to continue to lobby the Government concerning the proposed Bank of Jamaica (Credit Union ) Regulations.
The delegates said they supported the current lobbying effort of the League to ensure that the proposed regulations recognise the unique role being played by credit unions in bringing financial services to the marginalised and financially under-served in the country.
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The delegates said they wanted legislators to recognise that credit unions operate within a system of co-operation , collaboration and the pooling of resources that ensures that individual credit unions have access to resources that serve to strengthen their operations.
It was also noted that JCCUL, which is the national association of credit unions plays a critical role in maintaining support structures such as a self-regulatory system that supervises credit unions and the liquidity reserve on behalf of credit unions while serving as a lender of last resort. It was a system, they said, which has been quite successful in improving the safety and soundness of credit unions. Its role in effectively guiding credit unions through the turbulence faced by a number of financial institutions during the financial crisis of the 1990s was also noted. The delegates said that they support effective regulations for credit unions but this must reflect the unique role that credit unions play. The meeting on May 14 ended with the consensus that the proposed regulations must serve to strengthen credit unions and not undermine them.
Approximately 350 delegates, alternate delegates and observers attended the annual general meeting which was held at the Jamaica Grande Hotel from May 13-16.
