WOCCU Addresses CU Challenges & Opportunities During World Conference

The 2023 World Credit Union Conference, hosted by WOCCU and happening in Vancouver, British Columbia this week, has brought more than 3,000 credit union officials from around the world. During its first full day, WOCCU President/CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde said despite the challenges facing the global credit union system such as war, high inflation and regulations, credit unions are finding opportunities to thrive.

“These challenges test our resolve, but they also offer us an opportunity to meet those challenges and show our commitment to a shared purpose of putting people over profit. That is the credit union way,” McCarter LaBorde said.

According to McCarter LaBorde, credit unions have helped members through the war in Ukraine, recover from the deadly earthquake in Turkey and even assisted members during a surge in migration in Latin America.

“In one example, in Peru and Ecuador, where World Council has been working for almost five years now, credit unions are part of a national ecosystem, working with government, working with tech companies and municipalities to try to advance the economic inclusion of the most vulnerable citizens in those communities — working with migrants, especially with women, who have been forced to flee their home countries,” McCarter LaBorde said. “And this is a remarkable program, because it shows that even in the face of disruption, credit unions are part of bridging that gap and driving inclusive growth, even with those who are very hard to reach and often left behind.”

Update From Ukraine

In a breakout session during the World Credit Union Conference, officials with the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions (WFCU) said its Ukrainian Credit Union Displacement Fund has raised almost $2 million since February 2022. The Fund was launched days after Russian military forces invaded Ukraine.

According to a statement, the Fund has “implemented seven relief programs totaling over $646,000 that have focused on providing immediate assistance to Ukrainian credit unions and their members.”

During a presentation at the conference, Volodymyr Sydorovskyy, CEO of Credit Union Anisia, based in Lviv, Ukraine, said, “The first year of war, 2022, it was a shock. There was psychological, military and general uncertainty, so, of course people moved a lot, they didn’t want to take loans and they wanted to withdraw their deposits. But as we see the trend in 2023, the demand is growing for loans, especially small and medium enterprises. They want to resume their operations, especially in the agricultural sector.”

Sydorovskyy’s credit union is one of 24 Ukraine credit unions that have partnered with the USAID/WOCCU Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project, which aims to expand access to agriculture loans for members.

According to Ewa Sierzynska, chief of party for the CAP Project, the program is working.

“When we compare them [partner credit unions] to the entire 123 credit unions across the sector, we are performing better. Our losses are smaller, our portfolios have better quality and the drop in assets, loans and deposits are much smaller than on average.” Sierzynska said.