| Legislative Affairs | Political Affairs | Compliance | Regulatory Advocacy | |
| Training | Products & Services | Research & Statistics | Strategic Services | Consumer Information |
110th CONGRESS, LEGISLATIVE ISSUES A - Z
WORLD COUNCIL OF CREDIT UNIONS (WOCCU)
ISSUE: World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the international trade association and development agency for credit unions. WOCCU represents the interests of more than 46,000 credit unions serving 172 million members worldwide.
The world’s leading advocate for global awareness of credit unions, WOCCU promotes safety and soundness to government legislators, regulators supervisors, donors, credit union organizations and credit union members. WOCCU facilitates knowledge exchange and learning through international meetings, regional technical congresses, publications and internet information services.
WOCCU's international development activities are primarily funded by donors including the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. WOCCU also receives contributions from the US credit union system through the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), the National Credit Union Foundations (NCUF), CUNA Mutual and individual credit union member donations. Trade association activities are funded by member dues.
International Development:
In order to further credit union development, WOCCU
carries out technical assistance programs, currently in about 15 countries, focused on improving
financial performance, mobilizing savings, remittances and increasing outreach.
Unlike other microfinance organizations, WOCCU does not use USAID and other organization’s grants to directly fund microenterprise loans. Rather, WOCCU implements a more sustainable approach and uses grant funding for technical assistance and training to guide credit unions and employees in developing countries through a process of institutional development and financial planning.
Instead of injecting funds into a credit union or making a direct loan, WOCCU focuses on savings mobilization. Once individuals in a community have shown the capacity to save, they are allowed to take loans from the credit union. Since the member’s loans are savings from the community, credit unions in developing countries have extremely low delinquency rates. Using the savings driven approach also ensure that credit unions will continue to fund loans from local savings long after the completion of a WOCCU project.
WOCCU’s aim is to build a strong, self-sustainable credit union that will continue to promote democratic and free-market principles long after WOCCU’s project has come to a close.
Remittances:
WOCCU links national credit union organizations in other countries
together with money transfer operators so that senders in the US can send funds from 4,000+
outlets in 42 states for distribution through credit unions. On the receiving side, credit
unions in nine countries are distributing remittances using IRnet (International Remittance
Network). It is WOCCU’s hope receivers of remittances will keep some or all of their remittance
in a credit union account in order to build savings and improve their quality of life.
CUNA POSITION: CUNA is the largest member of WOCCU, and advocates their priorities before Congress through the help of the Leagues and affiliated credit unions.
OPPOSING VIEWS: Other than friendly microfinance competitors, there is no opposition to WOCCU’s congressional priorities and development activities. The US banking industry is not involved in international development.
IMPACT ON CREDIT UNIONS: CUNA’s affiliated Leagues and member credit unions have become increasingly involved in international credit union development. WOCCU’s Partnership program has matched 23 of CUNA’s state leagues with developing countries to provide a share and transfer of information and technology.
STATUS/OUTLOOK: The FY2008 State/Foreign Operations appropriations bill will be the primary vehicle that funds programs of interest to WOCCU, including microenterprise development and the Cooperative Development Program (CDP) under USAID. The President submitted the FY2008 budget to Congress in February 2007, which includes $24.3 billion for foreign operations programs.
The House of Representatives passed the State/Foreign Operations Appropriations bill on June 22, 2007. The bill included $225 million for microenterprise development programs under USAID, and report language favorable to cooperatives like WOCCU. On September 6, 2007, the Senate approved $250 million for microenterprise development, including a $30 million carveout for USAID’s Office of Microenterprise Development, and $12 million in programmatic funding for the Cooperative Development Program, an increase of $2 million from the FY2007 approved level.
WOCCU and CUNA are supportive of the Senate passed version of the State/Foreign Operations appropriations bill, and are hopeful that the Senate provisions will prevail during a conference committee.
CONTACTS: Phil Drager, 202-508-6710, pdrager@cuna.coop Rosemary Manesis, 202-508.6725, rmanesis@cuna.coop
Related Documents:
The Credit Union Difference on a Global Scale
June 28, 2006: Letter to the Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs
Copyright © 2009 - Credit Union National Association, Inc.