Look Beyond Your Credit Union’s Local Community, New WOCCU Chair Says

“People helping people” – this is the motto U.S. credit unions live by, and it shows in their efforts to make communities better places to live and help underserved consumers build better financial lives. But do they apply the philosophy to communities worldwide, where many citizens in developing countries could especially use a credit union’s help?

Not enough, according to Steven Stapp, president/CEO for the $1.2 billion Unitus Community Credit Union in Portland, Ore. As the newly-elected board chair of the World Council of Credit Unions, Stapp said he hopes to motivate more U.S. credit unions to think outside of their local communities and help support credit union systems around globe.

CU Times recently joined Stapp, who officially took office as WOCCU’s board chair this July during the World Credit Union Conference in Singapore, for lunch in Portland to discuss his work with WOCCU and future goals for the organization.

CU Times: How did you first get involved with WOCCU?

Stapp: I’ve always been interested in what was happening internationally. I had done a church mission in Argentina in the ’80s, and so that was my first international experience, but I didn’t know very much about what was happening internationally with credit unions. When I was working with Redwood Credit Union 11 years ago, Brett Martinez, the CEO, had given me a check request to make a donation to the World Council of Credit Unions, and I actually didn’t believe that it was a real entity or organization. And so I researched online and found out about the amazing work they were doing, and they had a field engagement to Ecuador. And I thought, well this is an excellent opportunity for me to go find out what’s happening in the international credit union arena. Through that visit, I learned of the work of the World Council, of setting up credit unions in Ecuador and how they had grown as a strong segment of their community. And in their system and network, they were really more advanced than we were in the United States. From that moment on, not only did I want to be successful in my own credit union career, I wanted to make sure that credit unions throughout the world were growing and prospering as well.

CU Times: Have you visited areas that were not quite as advanced?

Stapp: I’ve visited both. Right after the political change in Libya [in 2012], we had some Libya nationals reach out to us and they really wanted to get credit unions started in Libya. They really had no banking system there. They had some national banks and because of the sanctions on their country, they really weren’t connected to the banking system, or any of the Visa or MasterCard systems – a lot of the things we take for granted. And so [WOCCU President/CEO] Dr. Brian Branch and I traveled to Libya to meet with government officials and business officials about the possibility of starting credit unions. They were genuinely very excited about that opportunity. Many of them asked if I was going to start my own credit union in their country, and I said, “Oh no, we’re going to teach you about credit unions, and you’re going to run the credit union. You’re going to be responsible for that.” They thought that was a wonderful concept and idea. And we’ve continued to work with the government. Of course they’ve had a lot of political and economic difficulties, so they’re not quite ready for credit unions, but someday they will because they really see it as connecting people to deposits and capital.

CU Times: How does your role change on the WOCCU board now that you’re chair?

Stapp: In this role I serve as an ambassador to the worldwide credit union movement. Some systems are in their infancy and some are well-developed, and so in that role I’m leading the board of directors in helping set the agendas and direction of the World Council of Credit Unions. I’m working very closely with Dr. Brian Branch to monitor what their activities are, but in addition to that, I serve as a liaison by visiting other credit union systems and networks, encouraging them to continue their work, recognizing what they’re working on and understanding their challenges so I can understand what resources we need to develop at the World Council of Credit Unions to help them in their continued development.

CU Times: Was there an experience with WOCCU that really touched you emotionally?

Stapp: During my very first trip to Ecuador, we were in a little town called Cuenca. We traveled about three hours to an indigenous community, and when we arrived, the entire town was empty. It almost felt like it was deserted – it was a little eerie. As we made our way through the town, we came into the town hall, and here in this room was every single person of that community to greet us as kind of the first foreign visitors. And what they really wanted to tell us was their credit union had really changed their lives. The credit union, Jardin Azuayo, had made a loan fund for their community, which a group of women had administered, and it allowed them to harvest guinea pigs for food, grow crops and send their children to school. And so it was very emotional to see. Here’s this indigenous community that speaks a native language that’s then translated into Spanish and then translated into English, and I saw how grateful every single person was for their credit union that was a part of their town.

CU Times: What’s making you happy about the state of credit union systems worldwide, and what’s making you sad?

Stapp: In certain parts of the world, it is growing phenomenally. So for example in a rural part of Brazil, the credit unions have networked together under one association, and it’s one of the fastest-growing credit union movements in the world. So that’s very impressive in spite of [being in] a country that has both political and economic problems. I see that in various parts of the world, either in parts that I’ve actually visited or [based on] reports we’re getting in.

It saddens me that we have natural disasters that impact credit unions. And for example in Ukraine, where there has been political strife, credit unions are struggling, so that’s sad to see. The other thing that’s personally sad to me is I don’t see many credit unions here in the United States involved in the worldwide movement. I think a lot of credit unions say, “People helping people,” but it seems like they add onto that, “only in my community.” What they don’t realize is our community really is worldwide. You can’t go a day without products or services that are coming from another country, and people in these other countries want credit unions to help with their financial prosperity as well.

CU Times: Why do you think that is and how can it be changed?

Stapp: First, I think many people don’t understand that there are credit unions beyond the borders of the United States. They are thriving throughout the world. Second, it’s a little easier to be insular and say, “I’m only helping my local community.” What can change it? Oftentimes, unfortunately, it’s natural disasters. When we have a disaster that strikes the Philippines, for example, and we need to raise money to help support the credit unions and rebuild them, we’ll see greater awareness and people coming together to want to help.

CU Times: Do you have any updates concerning how WOCCU is helping with Hurricane Maria recovery efforts in Puerto Rico?

Stapp: The World Council has been at the forefront of raising funds for Puerto Rico and helping to rebuild the credit unions there. But it wasn’t just Puerto Rico of course – it was the other countries in the Caribbean. In Dominica, which is an island there, about 80% of the population belongs to a credit union. We have a partnership with an association on the east coast, which is helping out that country to help rebuild their credit union system.

CU Times: What goals do you have as chair, both for WOCCU and yourself?

Stapp: First and foremost is to bring greater awareness to our U.S. credit union system about what I call the brothers and sisters across the world that need our help, and really involve our young people. Our young people really have a global view of what’s happening throughout the world and they want to be part of it, and every single young person I’ve ever gotten involved with the credit union movement worldwide has been a credit union person for the rest of their life. We’re seeing some countries really lead in that. Brazil just had a conference and they had over 2,500 young people there. I don’t see that happening anywhere else but there, so we need to ask what we can learn from what they’re doing and how we can bring that to the United States. And then we have projects that we’re working on in developing countries that I want to continue to promote and lead. For example, in Colombia, 30 credit unions have come together to provide financial education to those that have been displaced from the Venezuelan crisis. To me that’s really impressive because it’s responding to a social, economical and political crisis, but it’s not directed at the governments or anything else. It’s really about, “How can we help the people?”

CU Times: What opportunities exist for young people in the U.S. to get involved with the credit union movement worldwide?

Stapp: For one, we’re hosting various technical conferences here in the United States with foreign delegations – they definitely want to learn – so there are things they can do here. But also, the World Council of Credit Unions is hosting various field engagements. One that we’re going to be promoting next year is to Costa Rica, which is especially [designed] for young professionals to attend. They have a very progressive movement in Costa Rica, one that’s focused on the environment, and I think a lot of people want to be involved in that. And these are field engagements where [young credit union professionals] kind of have to ask up the chain if they can go, [and explain] what they plan on learning, and especially what they are going to bring back to their credit union.