Former Prime Minister Outlines CUs’ Growth Opportunities

GLASGOW, Scotland – The Right Hon. Gordon Brown, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, firmly believes credit unions have a strong and influential role to play finance around the world, and with it an opportunity to be seized upon over the next decade.

Speaking to the World CU Conference here, Brown said credit unions have “brought morality into the discussion of money, have brought conscience into the supply of credit, and have given a human face to banking and finance in this world.”

During his 45-minutes of remarks, which Brown gave without notes, he demonstrated a strong familiarity with credit unions and industry statistics. But it isn’t statistics that will win the day for credit unions, he stated at several points. Instead, it is something many CUs take for granted.

“You have the one asset that money can’t buy, the one asset banks around the world would spend billions of dollars on but they can’t buy, and that is trust based on mutuality,” said Brown. “There is enormous opportunity. The challenge is to harness all the new technology to the basic idea you have that when people work together for a common purpose there is nothing that you cannot achieve.”

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER