HUNTSVILLE, Ala.-What has struck Cristina Mora most about American credit unions is the internal culture, including job training and instilling the CU philosophy.
Mora is the marketing manager at Costa Rican credit union Coope Ande #1, and she recently spent three weeks working as an intern at Redstone FCU here. Mora was one of several CU professionals from Costa Rica who interned at American CUs as part of a three-week internship program from the World Council of Credit Unions.
"The main thing I saw here that I'm very impressed with is that they have a whole culture and a whole philosophy to train people," she said, pointing out that those efforts extend not only to job-related training but also providing opportunities for employees to move up and around within the credit union.
Mora also cited the "morning huddle" that each department at Redstone organizes every morning. "They can talk about what they are doing in their job, or maybe if they have something important that is coming that they're working on, they share that information with their partners," she explained. "Or maybe they just bring something to make you think or play a motivational video or something funny. That's a very good way to communicate and be connected with what you're doing."
Government Limits On Growth
One area where Costa Rican CUs may have an advantage over their American counterparts is growth-but there's a catch. Costa Rican CUs are regulated by the same government agency as banks, which has dictated that growth in 2013 should be limited to 12%, said Mora.
"For banks that's not a problem, but for credit unions like us, it's a real problem, because last year we grew 24%," she said. That's something that a bank is not going to have any trouble with, but we are."
Mora explained that banks and CUs have the same regulations, "so sometimes it's very difficult for us to comply with everything, because we are just different. We are a social institution; the banks are not. That's a very big difference [between the U.S. and Costa Rica] because the credit unions [in America] have their own institutions that regulate them."
Getting Social
CUs in Costa Rica have not leveraged social media to the extent American credit unions have, but Mora said many of the same questions persist about how to effectively utilize it and find ROI. Coope Ande #1 launched Facebook in 2010 and has fewer than 1,000 "Likes." It occasionally runs promotions on Facebook, and the CU has only recently begun adding the Facbeook logo to its advertising and brochures. Aside from the Spanish, Coope Ande #1's Facebook page looks nearly identical to its American counterparts'.
"Twitter is not very popular in Costa Rica; here it is more popular," she said, pointing out that Facebook may have reached a saturation point, with too many people using it. "You have to know how to use it, because if you just want a million likes or a million fans, that's not the way. You have to know how to do it. I think it should grow [in Costa Rica] and I think other credit unions should look for ways to work with it."
