Credit unions come in for praise

Catherine Kumar, Inspector of Financial Institutions of the Central Bank, made this comment while delivering the feature address at SECU Credit Union Co-operative Society Ltd’s annual general meeting on Thursday.

She congratulated SECU for its outstanding growth over the last 23 years and said “as you and the movement get bigger, you should not leave the heart and soul, that is the core philosophy of the movement behind, as this is what separates the credit union from the other financial institutions.”

She noted that SECU had also established a branch in Chaguanas which recorded an increase of 39 percent membership over the previous year.

Kumar was told that another branch would soon be opened in Princes Town.

SECU has an asset base of $71.8 million and, according to the Central Bank, it is classified as medium-sized.

Net surplus is $4.3 million which is 6.8 percent over the 2004 figure.

“This is testimony to the hard work of your committees and staff to deliver good quality service to the membership,” Kumar noted.

She commended the credit union “for your efforts which have borne positive results with membership growing by 14 percent or 870 new members and the proposal of a dividend distribution of 7.5 percent.”