CORDOBA, Mexico-Two of North America's most innovative credit unions indicated they may pair up through the World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) International Partnerships Program. The proposed partnership would be the first time a Canadian credit union has individually participated in the program with an institution in another country, WOCCU reported, adding, "Should it go forward, the institutions would be separated only by a country, a common language and a dramatic difference in asset sizes."
Officials from both Servus Credit Union in Alberta, Canada, and Caja Popular de Ahorros Yanga, S.C. de A.P. de R.L. de C.V., better known as Caja Yanga, in Veracruz, Mexico, told WOCCU that none of those differences will impede the two-way flow of lessons in transaction technology, management strategies and credit union philosophy the institutions will share as part of the new relationship. The fact that Servus Credit Union has assets of nearly CN$10 billion (about US$8 billion) and Caja Yanga has assets of 300 million pesos (about US$20 million) strengthens the relationship through exposure to different approaches the two financial cooperatives bring to member service, WOCCU said.
