On Monday, Crear discussed WOCCU's overall success with a focus on the growth seen in the past decade where credit unions have been built in such troubled areas of the world as Africa, South America and Afghanistan.

He added that credit unions have helped the peace process by bringing rival factions to the negotiating table to discuss financial service needs supported by WOCCU and credit union volunteers around the globe.

Looking ahead to WOCCU's future, Crear introduced his successor, Brian Branch, current WOCCU executive vice president/COO, during the general session.

Branch outlined his growth strategy, citing mobile technology as the future for rural efforts bringing credit unions to members rather than the traditional brick and mortar model. He added that credit unions must share services to mitigate the increasing cost of operations.

Focusing on the future was a theme reinforced by keynote speaker, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who focused on the morality of managing money and the need for principled standards for financial services.

“Co-operatives are always created out of need. Part of the world economy's need right now is a better ethic for doing business, and co-operatives are a natural place to provide that. The UK's co-operative movement founded Fair Trade in the 1990s on that basis, and has flourished as a result,” Brown said.

“Credit unions have an ethical competitive edge in that they provide affordable credit, and strengthen their community and increases that community's resilience to economic shocks,” he said.