More than 5,700 miles separate Idaho from the tiny Eastern European nation of Moldova, but a recent exchange program between credit union professionals from the two locales revealed that the "people-helping-people" philosophy knows no borders.
A delegation of nine Moldovan credit union professionals visited Idaho last week as part of a World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) exchange program that included visits to Idaho CUs to observe operations, board meetings, technology offerings and more.
Victor Trocin, CEO of the
"We wanted to see how the credit unions work in practice here, to see the reality of the way they are providing their services and products," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "To see how they are developing their activities, the technologies they are using and to have discussions directly with credit unions."
In addition to credit union functions, the Moldovan delegation also visited Idaho's Department of Finance, Yellowstone National Park (during the week of the National Park Service's Centenary, no less), a state fair and more.
Trocin was in the U.S. for a similar visit in 2004, and he said he was struck this time by the "huge development and investment in [credit union] activities" since then.
"While we liked visiting the credit unions during this trip, I also liked asking the managers what caused the development, and all of them said the improvements were made because of technologies," said Trocin. He added that the biggest surprise of the trip was discovering how American CUs combine cutting-edge technology with high levels of member service.
Unclear Regulatory Environment
Tucked between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is one of Europe's poorest nations. Home to just 3.5 million people, its economy is largely based on agriculture. Its credit unions, said Victor Corro, VP of member services at WOCCU, total about $500 million in assets, and most are not computerized.
"They're basically run out of a shoebox," said Corro. "They are advocating for specialized regulation for credit unions. Right now the government does not have enough resources to supervise credit unions very well, so they're going through that transition now. The credit unions are growing, gathering more and more members. There's a rather interesting dynamic going on, and they came to the U.S. to learn how to run their credit unions better and how to position themselves for greater awareness within the community."
The
"The first time I went, I didn't know what to expect," confessed Shane Berger, CEO of Beehive Federal Credit Union. "We found out that they were not very advanced in their technologies and the services that they offer, and a lot of that is because of regulatory issues." He explained that many Moldovan CUs can't take deposits – they can only borrow and then loan that money back to members at a higher interest rate. Many of them also deal exclusively in cash, he added.
"If someone comes in to borrow, they can only borrow a very small amount of money, and the disbursement of that loan is in cash and payments come back to them in cash," he said. "They are not participants in any kind of payments system over there, because the banks have blocked them. So for that reason, they are very far behind our credit union system – but they don't want to stay there. They want to change their laws and regulations, and advance their technology and the services they can offer."
Many Nations, (Relatively) Few Collaborations
Just 22 states – representing even fewer state credit union leagues – have WOCCU partnerships with other nations' CU movements, though Berger noted that one previous experience at international collaboration did not go as well as this one. In 2007-2008, he said, the league partnered with credit unions in the Solomon Islands – an experience that Berger said was unsuccessful because of differing philosophical outlooks.
"I had some hesitation with [the Moldovan] partnership, but we've been involved with it for two years and soon to enter our third, and there's no question that this will continue for years to come, and continue to be successful and benefit both parties," he said.
So why don't more CUs and state leagues collaborate with like-minded groups from other nations?
"If they all knew how enjoyable and satisfying it is, they would be more engaged," said Berger.
A delegation of
CASCA's Trocin echoed Berger's positive sentiment, adding that the Moldovans were pleasantly surprised by their visit stateside.
"In general our group was surprised by the country, by the democracy and by the people that live here," he said. "As a result of our visit, our conclusion is that we need to improve the services we provide, to modernize our offices and to open up new branches."
