Presidents of more than 80 registered credit unions will meet today under one roof to discuss the contents of a draft policy developed by the Ministry of Finance in a bid to regulate the industry.
President of the Co-operative Credit Union League of T&T, Joseph Remy said the League has done an analysis on the draft document and today's meeting is all about soliciting feedback from the respective presidents.
He said that a technical committee was established and has already done some reviews on the policy, "so right now what we want to do is gather the thoughts and the views from our various presidents and put it together with what we would have (the League) to compile a comprehensive response to the ministry by August 30."
While Remy commended Finance Minister Colm Imbert for drafting a policy for credit unions, he said there were some issues to be addressed.
"We believe there are sone areas missing in terms of the true meaning of cooperatives and the role of credit unions against the role of non financial corporations. Some of the ares need a little more flushing out," he said.
"We never had a policy document to make a comparison too. It's the first time we are getting a comprehensive national policy on co-operatives, which is the first step and we would want to critique it and make sure our input is taken on board in the crafting of the policy because at the end of the day the policy speaks on the issue of cooperatives and nobody else. Our input should be of paramount importance."
In July 2005, Cabinet agreed that supervision of the financial activities of credit unions should be integrated under the aegis of the Central Bank. Cabinet also agreed that the Co-operative Societies Act, Chap 81:03 should be amended to remove supervision of the financial activities of credit unions from the mandate of the Commissioner for Co-operative Development.
The Central Bank developed a policy paper which outlines proposals for development of a Credit Union Act and conducted consultations with the industry and the public to ensure that the proposals were consistent with the values which govern co operatives.