Group Tours China's Rural Co-ops

BEIJING, China - Credit union leaders from the United States and Canada joined World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) to launch a new development initiative with the People's Bank of China (PBC). The week-long June visit was led by WOCCU Second Vice Chairman Barry Jolette and EVP Brian Branch, meeting with top Chinese officials and visiting rural credit cooperatives (RCCs) in China's poorest province.

WOCCU noted that most of China's 1.3-billion people still lack access to basic financial services, particularly in rural areas. Located in some of the poorest regions, WOCCU said the more than 30,000 RCCs throughout China have great potential to provide affordable financial services to the underserved majority.

The WOCCU delegation conducted a seminar for PBC officials and met with officials from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in Beijing to explain credit union financial management standards, governance principles and business system models.

The team then traveled to China's poorest province, Guizhou, to visit RCCs and conducted a seminar on the credit union model for provincial RCC officials.

During the visit, WOCCU and PBC officials established the framework for a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop credit union operational guidelines and a sector policy framework.