9/26/2006

Russia and the United States Credit Union Movements United in Cooperation

Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, Russia

At the request of the Russia Credit Union League (RCUL), a team of United States credit union industry professionals traveled to assess the RCUL three-tiered system and provide recommendations for sustainable services delivery to credit unions in Russia. The delegation was led by Dr. Brian Branch, WOCCU’s Chief Operating Officer. The U.S. professionals were invited to attend given their expertise and involvement in WOCCU’s development activities overseas.

Gene Brody, CEO of Bay Ridge FCU of Brooklyn, New York; Dana Hofmann-Geye, SVP and General Counsel at the Minnesota Credit Union Network; Patrick Jury, CEO of the Iowa Credit Union League; Anne Cochran, CEO at the Louisiana Credit Union League ; John Florian, VP of Governmental Affairs at the Ohio Credit Union Systmen; and Liliana Tangwall, Credit Union Analyst from WOCCU traveled to Russia from September 10-17.

The RCUL system is made up of three tiers. This includes municipal credit cooperatives, regional associations and the federal Russia Credit Union League, located in Moscow. The advisory team analyzed current services and products offered by RCUL. The team is now working on identifying a development strategy for RCUL to provide its member credit unions new and improved services taking into account the linkages and interaction of tiers and their long-term sustainability.
Particular issues to be addressed included:

Group 1: Membership / Advocacy Services: John Florian, Dana Hofmann-Geye
Group 2: Fee for Services: Pat Jury, Gene Brody, Liliana Tangwall
Group 3: Training Services: Anne Cochran, Brian Branch.














Pictures: (top) Hofmann-Geye, Cochran, Branch, Tangwall, Brody, Jury, Florian and Vydrina (RCUL) at St. Basil Church on the Red Square in Moscow.
(bottom) Cochran and Branch hard at work in Vlodovostok (9 hours by plane from Moscow).

More pictures here

Press release sent by RCUL

9/20/2006

Connecticut and Trinidad expands Credit Union to Credit Union Partnerships

Connecticut and Trinidad and Tobago further solidified their five-year World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) international partnership at the recent CCUA Leadership Conference with the official partnership agreement of Connecticut's Seasons Federal Credit Union and Trinidad's COPOS Credit Union Cooperative Society, Ltd.

WOCCU'S press release here
CTCUA newsletter here
More pictures here

9/18/2006

Oregon Credit Union Association Highlights Partnership with Uzbekistan

The Oregon Credit Union Association writes about thier involvement with Uzbekistan in their newsletter. Click here for details on page 2 (pdf file). Picture taken at Baraka Credit Union in Uzbekistan.