ONTARIO, Calif. — The California and Nevada Credit Union League has entered into a partnership agrement with Guatemala's national credit union trade association. The partnership will operate as part of the World Council of Credit Union's International Partnership Program.
A meeting with Assemblywoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona), the first Guatemalan immigrant to serve in California's state assembly, and a signing of a partnership agreement with the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues capped a weeklong visit by representatives from the Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito (Federated Cooperative Credit Union System or FENACOAC).
League President/CEO Bill Cheney and FENACOAC CEO Oswaldo Oliva signed the agreement, which seeks to establish a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship between the two credit union movements. According to the World Council, as part of the newly formed partnership, the leagues will be working with the Guatemalan federation and WOCCU in the areas of advocacy, shared branching and the implementation of a share insurance fund in the Central American country. The recent meeting set the stage for considerable efforts to come, according to FENACOAC's Oliva.
"We learned a lot from our visit, and we're leaving with a list of things we're going to implement immediately," Oliva said. The Guatemalan credit union movement has more than 400 credit unions and one million members. FENACOAC is an emerging credit union federation with 25 credit unions that serve 900,000 members, or about 90% of the total credit union membership in the country.
