ICA Americas

Race for Cooperative Development!

Communications — 2010-08-18T22:44:44Z

When and Where?

Saturday, October 9th, 2010 Registration - 7:30 am Start time - 8:30 am Marymount University, Ballston Campus (Click here for map)

The Race for Cooperative Development is only two months away! This year CDF is incorporating a “virtual team” aspect into the fold. Individuals who are not running in the race (all you west coasters out there) now have the opportunity to support someone who is! All you need to do is visit the Cooperative Development Foundation website, click on “donation” and follow the instructions.

For more information please visit http://www.cdf.coop/5krace

NCBA Profile Keeps Rising

Communications — 2010-08-18T21:21:53Z

At the 1 Credit Union Conference, an unprecedented combination of CUNA's national and WOCCU's international conferences for credit unions, Hazen spoke on July 14 about the connections between credit unions and other co-ops, emphasizing cooperative opportunities possible as a result the ongoing economic downturn and the U.N. declaration that 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives.

Hazen also spoke at a round table hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture July 21, hosted by undersecretary Dallas Tonsager and attended by cooperators from all sectors. There, Hazen pointed out the need for public/private partnerships, a clear agenda to revive Main Street, and increased focus on healthy foods and renewable energy.

Finally, Hazen was featured in a video promoting the International Cooperative Alliance's ExpoCoop 2010, which will be held in Bangalore, India this December.

El Salvador Turns to Credit Unions for Business Sector Financing

Communications — 2010-08-18T21:16:06Z

Prior government administrations in the past had encouraged El Salvador's commercial banks and microfinance institutions to provide financing support to small and micro enterprises. However, during the recent financial crisis, commercial bank loans in general shrank by 5% and the funds were redirected away from the small businesses to support larger commercial enterprises. During the same period, credit union loans expanded 16%, making more money available to small businesses in need.

Héctor Córdova, FEDECACES CEO, and Brian Branch, WOCCU executive vice president, last week met with Salvadoran government officials to support the case for increased growth and outreach by credit unions to small and micro businesses. Córdova and Branch were executing lobbying steps discussed during the recent International Seminar on Best Practices and Credit Union Operations, an event jointly sponsored by and part of the ongoing relationship between the Iowa Credit Union League and Corporación Fondo de Estabilización y Garantía de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito de Panamá, R.L. (COFEP), originally brought together in 2005 through WOCCU's International Partnerships Program.

The April 2010 meeting, held in Panama City, Panama, attracted participants from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Lessons learned about market strategy and advocacy both came into play during last week's visit, according to Córdova. "We saw the crisis as an opportunity to help our members grow and to grow our credit unions," said Córdova. Currently, the 32 credit unions in the FEDECACES system serve 132,000 members. Nearly 20% of the credit union portfolio represents loans to small or micro businesses and agricultural producers. Most business loans are made to self-employed merchants or family-owned businesses.

According to Marta Evelyn de Riviera, vice president of El Salvador's Central Bank, only 5% of the country's financial sector is locally owned. During the global financial crisis, the country saw both restriction and withdrawal of services by the larger foreign-owned commercial banks. The banks' withdrawal for small business paved the way for government policy support for increased credit union participation in financing micro and small businesses, according to Mario Cerna, El Salvador's vice minister of economics.

"During the civil war of the 1980s, credit unions in El Salvador maintained their operations, often as the only local institutions to provide loans to small agricultural producers, self-employed merchants and family-owned businesses," said Branch. "During the recent financial crisis, credit unions once again stepped into the breach to provide financing to the common population who could no longer get financing from commercial banks. This level of local commitment to small businesses is what the government would like El Salvador's credit unions to continue providing."

Current government policy seeks to stimulate greater growth of the financial cooperative sector, including credit unions, to ensure continuity of locally sustainable and committed financial services to local producers and businesses. Central Bank officials are in the final stages of completing their policy development and will meet with FEDECACES staff next week to gather specific credit union input.

Recognition for Canadian cooperative leader

Communications — 2010-08-18T21:11:16Z

Dennis was awarded the CCA's Canadian Co-operative Achievement Award, and made a member of the CCA's Co-operative Hall of Fame during the Association's national congress in Vancouver in June. The award is made to those who are deemed to have made a major contribution to cooperatives in Canada and internationally.

Dennis is responsible at The Co-operators for relations between the Board and member cooperatives and also oversees the organisation's sustainability initiatives, public affairs, marketing and communications, and the legal department. He has been actively engaged in the development of the pioneering Master of Management - Cooperatives and Credit Unions (MMCCU) course, the first MBA-style qualification tailored specifically for the cooperative sector. He has also been The Co-operators' representative to ICMIF's regional body, the Americas Association of Cooperative/Mutual Insurance Societies (AAC/MIS).

The co-operative brand: an exciting opportunity

Communications — 2010-08-18T21:01:32Z

She says that over the last few years people have begun to challenge their perceptions of the way the commercial world should function. The collapse of the world economy has discredited the management model of many of the world's largest financial company's and caused widespread disenchantment among consumers.

In such a climate Cooperatives have an incredible opportunity to market their own business model and benefit from a desire of customers to conduct their business in a more ethical way. By having the customer as the central stakeholder in the business, it is clear that cooperatives hold a significant advantage over stock companies when marketing themselves as a customer driven business.

But cooperatives must be proactive in order to make themselves heard. Shaun Tarbuck says a powerful cooperative brand must be the visible face of the business strategy and must drive the behaviour of officials and executives.

The cooperative brand has a great deal of power but its message must be heard so that the sector can fully take advantage of the opportunities they have.

Canadian cooperative insurers make plans to celebrate 2012

Communications — 2010-08-18T20:51:54Z

Kathy Bardswick, CEO of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) member of The Co-operators and the previous ICMIF Chair, has pointed out the importance of the UN's decision. "The International Year of Cooperatives is an opportunity for people everywhere to learn more about this diverse group of organisations that contribute so much to economies and communities in virtually every corner of the world," she says.

The Canadian Co-operative Association, which represents more than 2000 organisations, is developing a programme of International Year activities aimed at highlighting the social and economic contributions of cooperatives. Although coops and credit unions have more than seventeen million members in Canada, the CCA says that most people are unaware of the significant role they play.

"At a time when so many people around the world have a heightened interest in doing business with organisations whose values reflect their own, raising awareness of cooperatives and what they stand for is very important," Kathy Bardswick adds.

Worker Co-operatives and Employment Law in Canada

Communications — 2010-08-14T00:31:05Z

This paper examines the relationship between worker co-operatives and employment law in Canada. It considers the definition of an employee, the rights of members, the rights of employers, the method of proper termination and the role of labour unions. It provides recommendations for worker co-operatives to consider as they navigate the legislation in order to create a strong co-operative and a workplace beneficial to its membership.

At On-line documents

Electric Co-ops in the US launch Nationwide Smart Grid Demonstration Project

Communications — 2010-08-14T00:24:47Z

Authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the smart grid research grants, together with the $3.4 billion in smart grid investment grants, are part of a federal initiative to identify and develop new and more effective smart grid technologies.

“Cooperatives lead the industry in the deployment of smart meter infrastructure and can help drive the effort to modernize the nation's electrical system using new technologies,” said NRECA CEO Glenn English. “Our cooperatives will be evaluating how and whether these technologies can assist them in their mission to provide safe, reliable and affordable electric power to their member-consumers,” English said.

Electric distribution cooperatives, which range in size from a few hundred to more than 200,000 meters, will evaluate potential benefits of new technologies that could help increase operational efficiencies and improve service. On the other side of the meter, co-ops will also test new programs that help consumers manage electric bills.

Cooperatives are well-positioned to advance the implementation of a smart grid. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), cooperatives' advanced metering penetration increased from 3.8 percent in 2006 to 16.4 percent in 2008 – well above the industry as a whole. According to research conducted by NRECA, approximately half of cooperatives have installed at least some advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) on their systems, and some 30 percent of cooperatives have begun to integrate their AMI with other systems on their grid.

The cooperatives' demonstration project represents the first opportunity to conduct a nationwide pilot extending and testing end-to-end connectivity – from the power plant to the consumer's home – and interoperability using MultiSpeak®, a specification developed by NRECA through the MultiSpeak Initiative. This project will extend the MultiSpeak specification to new functions and applications and include cybersecurity in the testing process. Cyber security consultants SAIC and Cigital will work with the cooperatives to explore security issues surrounding enhanced interoperability and connectivity.

Participating cooperatives:

Adams Electric Cooperative (IL)
Adams-Columbia Electric Cooperative (WI)
Clarke Electric Cooperative, Inc. (IA)
Consumers Energy (IA)
Corn Belt Power Cooperative (IA)
Calhoun County Electric Cooperative Association (Corn Belt Power Member, IA)
Humboldt County Rural Electric Cooperative (Corn Belt Power Member, IA)
Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative (Corn Belt Power Member, IA)
Prairie Energy Cooperative (Corn Belt Power Member, IA)
Delaware County Electric Co-op (NY)
Flint EMC (GA)
Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative (HI)
Menard Electric Cooperative (IL)
New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NH)
Owen Electric Cooperative, Inc. (KY)
Salt River Electric Cooperative (KY)
Snapping Shoals EMC (GA)
United REMC (IN)
Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative (LA)

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation's more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.

Credit Unions Can Do More Small Business Lending, CUNA's president and CEO says

Communications — 2010-08-14T00:20:57Z

“Credit unions are lending but they can do a lot more,” said Cheney, 50, in an interview at Bloomberg's New York office. He became CUNA's head earlier this month. Credit unions are owned by their depositors and represent about 6 percent to 10 percent of total deposits held by financial institutions, said Cheney. The Washington and Madison, Wisconsin-based CUNA represents about 7,800 lenders and 92 million members.

Cheney, the former head of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, said Congress should pass legislation introduced by Senator Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, to let credit unions make loans to small businesses up to 27.5 percent of their assets, compared with the current limit of 12.25 percent. “It would free up $10 billion in lending to small business and create 108,000 jobs in the next year,” Cheney said.

Credit unions take deposits from their owner-customers and make loans to their members, who are typically small businesses, he said. Deposits in credit unions are federally insured up to $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures bank accounts.

The U.S. Senate is debating a small business aid bill, a version of which has been approved by the House of Representatives. President Barack Obama has been pressing Congress to push forward on initiatives to help small businesses in an attempt to encourage job growth.

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June from 9.7 percent in May. Companies with fewer than 500 workers employ about half of the working population and account for 60 percent of gross job creation, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said July 12 at a conference in Washington.

Credit unions worldwide experienced growth in 2009: WOCCU Statistical Report

Communications — 2010-08-14T00:17:29Z

Total savings for all responding credit unions reached more than US$1.1 trillion, the highest level recorded since WOCCU first began conducting the annual survey in 1972. The rate of growth represents nearly a 15% increase compared to the US$995 billion in savings reported in 2008.

Loans were another indicator demonstrating strong growth over the previous year, climbing to nearly US$912 billion from US$847 billion in 2008. This sizeable increase is further accentuated in contrast to a slight decrease in loans globally between 2007 and 2008. Annual survey respondents from 97 countries worldwide reported that 49,330 credit unions served nearly 184 million members.

In recent years, credit unions worldwide have seen notable growth in assets, membership, savings and other indicators. Cumulative assets reached nearly US$1.4 trillion in 2009, up from US$1.2 trillion in 2008, and reserves reached nearly US$120 billion in 2009, up from slightly more than US$115 billion in 2008. Strong financial performance demonstrates members' renewed faith in credit unions' resiliency during difficult economic times.

WOCCU has collected annual statistics on the international credit union movement for the past 37 years to produce its annual Statistical Report, and data is based solely on the number of countries responding to the survey. The only source for such comprehensive data on the global credit union movement, WOCCU's Statistical Report is widely cited by governments, international institutions and analysts. To download a free copy of the report, visit www.woccu.org/publications.