Australia celebrates International Credit Union Day

15 October 2009

Australian credit unions – serving over 3.5 million Australians – join more than 95 countries around the world to celebrate International Credit Union Day on 15 October.

“Australia has the third largest credit union system in the world, and one of the most successful,” said Louise Petschler, CEO of industry body Abacus.

“Credit unions have performed extremely well through the GFC and this year, we recognise our resilience, strength and focus on member benefit as part of our Credit Union Day celebrations.”

Credit Union Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of October annually, recognising the work of credit unions serving over 186 million members in 97 countries around the world.

The role of credit unions in delivering competition, stability and ethics in financial services has been recognised internationally by groups from the UN, to the Gates Foundation, to Pope Benedict XVI in his June 2009 Encyclical, “Charity in Truth” [1].

“Credit unions are working for members all around the globe,” said Ms Petschler. “Being member-owned credit unions can deliver competitive rates to members, as their focus is on better service and pricing, not driving high profits for external shareholders.”

Australian credit unions are regulated under the Banking Act by APRA and are covered by the Government’s deposit guarantee. Recent statistics from APRA underline the crucial role of credit unions in competition. In the past year Australian credit unions have increased housing loans by over 10%, and grown deposits by close to 12%. Credit unions focus on prudent management of their members’ money, and are responsible lenders with the lowest levels of arrears in the market.

“Australian credit unions also support local communities in a wealth of sponsorships, programs, grants and partnerships,” Ms Petschler said. “This focus is also reflected in our mission to increase access to financial services through cooperatives for people around the world.”

Internationally, the World Council for Credit Unions oversees a range of development programs around the world, improving peoples’ lives in emerging economies. Closer to home, the Credit Union Foundation Australia (CUFA) is a not-for-profit development agency that runs programs in the Asia-Pacific region, helping to broaden access to affordable financial services.

CUFA’s new Village Entrepreneur Initiative program enables Australian credit union members to directly support credit union members in villages of Cambodia and Timor in local business initiatives. This has a dramatic impact on the quality of their own lives, in terms of living standards, education for their children and quality medical care [2].

For more information:

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[1]  “Financiers must rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity, so as not to abuse the sophisticated instruments which can serve to betray the interests of savers.  If love is wise, it can find ways of working in accordance with provident and just expediency, as illustrated in a significant way by much of the experience of credit unions.” Charity in Truth Encyclical, June 2009
[2]  To learn more about CUFA’s work, go to: www.cufa.com.au

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