WOCCU/Visa Launch event at WCUC 2025.
The World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) has announced a strategic partnership with Visa to tackle long-standing challenges in cross-border payments, including high costs, limited access and operational complexity.
Revealed at the 2025 World Credit Union Conference in Stockholm, the collaboration will unite credit union leaders from across the Americas to design scalable, member-focused solutions for reliable and secure international money transfers.
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“Cross-border payments remain costly, complex and often out of reach for many communities served by credit unions,” Thomas Belekevich, WOCCU’s director of member services, said. “This collaboration with Visa represents a critical step forward in our mission to create inclusive and efficient financial ecosystems globally. Together, we’re building solutions rooted in cooperation, innovation and impact.”
The initiative will operate under WOCCU’s Global Cooperative Committees platform, a forum designed to foster peer learning and innovation among credit union professionals. Visa will serve as a strategic advisor and knowledge partner, lending its expertise in global payments to guide development.
“At Visa, we believe that inclusive economies are built on accessible, reliable and secure financial infrastructure,” Celeste Schwitters, senior vice president at Visa, said. “By working alongside WOCCU, we’re not only supporting innovation in cross-border payments — we’re helping credit unions extend their reach, deepen trust with their members and deliver financial services that are truly global in scope.”
The pilot effort will culminate in a global insights brief and presentation at the 2026 World Credit Union Conference, furthering WOCCU’s commitment to advancing financial inclusion through public-private collaboration.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
