Consultant and former Australian CU exec Mark Lynch says U.S. credit unions could learn the following from their counterparts down under:
* Don't see the campaign to retain tax-free status as a nuisance, build it into core strategies.
* Value and practice credit union principles.
* Educate members on the benefits of cooperative ownership.
* Retain fields of membership and communities of interest
* Look for strategies to avoid mergers
* Stay a united and cooperative movement. "That has been lost in Australia," said Lynch.
* Retain broad-based structures.
* Communicate, communicate, communicate.
* Don't see the threat only coming from one direction.
* "Credit unions in Australia looked at the money and didn't look at the implications," he observed.
