LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Virginia Credit Union League (VCUL) has signed a partnership agreement with the Estonian Union of Credit Cooperatives (EUCC) to provide support and expertise to that country’s cooperative movement.
“Many of our credit unions expressed strong interest in establishing such a partnership, and we’re excited about the opportunity to support credit union development in another part of the world,” said Rick Pillow, president of VCUL.
At present, according to Victor Miguel Corro, the World Council of Credit Unions’ International Partnerships manager, the Estonian credit union movement is very small and faced with a marketplace dominated by Scandinavian banks. EUCC–Estonia’s version of a credit union league–consists of 11 credit unions with a combined 2,693 members.
“The institutions have almost 0% delinquency because many operate more like savings clubs than full-service lenders and, in some cases, make only 100% share-secured loans,” WOCCU said. The EUCCs account for less than 1% of the country’s financial services market.
In August, a delegation from Virginia’s credit unions will visit Estonia for a firsthand look at the operations of the Estonian cooperatives. Earlier, Juri Valdov, former president and now senior vice president of external affairs for Northwest FCU in Herndon, Va. Valdov visited Estonia in August 2007 to assess the nation’s credit union system.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
