Need seen for national credit union body

Press, 20 February 1979, Page 22

Need seen for national credit union body

The growth in the assets' oi credit unions in New Zealand in recent years is mak- : ing a national organisation desirable, said the Registrar; of Friendly Societies (Mr K. ■/risk). New Zealand’s credit' unions have been very successful so far, Mr Prisk ' told more than 300 credit union leaders at the New ■ Zealand Credit Union! League's annual conference in Hamilton. > They had to face up to i [the fact that they were now ■ an important member of the' ■ : financial community, and > credit unions had to "face ■ up to the responsibilities -. that this entails,” he said. • : Funds had grown to more; ■ , than S3BM in credit union i activities subject to his I [authority, and credit unionsl

i affiliated to the league now 1 amounted to more than S2OM. Most financial institutions i had to invest a certain amount of their funds in Government securities, but at present, credit unions were not subject to these requirements. The larger credit unions

.■■did so for their own protec--1 tion. but the smaller ones were very vulnerable to liquidity crises. However, so i far there had not been a i public credit union problem t Mr Prisk said •he saw > moves by the league to look - at the question of a more formal restructure as part of s> a long-term solution for . credit unions. They were being asked to [consider the possibility of 'the league registering as a ■ friendlv society, and each

individual credit union becoming a "branch" of the central bods. The advantage, he saw. was the ability that this would give for the movement to police itself without the need for legislation. The [need to be more aware of [Government policies could ■also be more readily me’ bv a head office and a nation[wide, structure. i Formal structure would also enable financial assistance to be given to credit unions through head office when liquidity problems arose. "In fact, assistance would be forced as you would be protecting the good name of credit unions at the same time." said Mr Prisk.