Caja Libertad Explores U.S. Foundations

A delegation from Caja Libertad, the second largest credit union in Mexico, visited various foundations and community development specialists last week in their visit to the U.S.

The delegation learned about state, national and international foundations and the impact the foundations have, which will help it establish its own foundation and expand the current philanthropic work they do.

Visitors included Caja Libertad's Paolo Lezama, executive director; Hugo Bustamante, president of the education committee; and Cesar Izurieta, executive vice president of marketing.

"We currently fund financial literacy programs, health and wellness activities, programs that help to keep our cooperative culture alive and numerous community reinvestment initiatives," said Bustamante. "But we think we can do more, through a separate foundation."

The group met with the Arizona CU System. Sandy Watts, marketing and communications director, said, "We discussed key topics like who decides how to spend funds and why, the grant request system, the organizational structure, legal status and their foundation's history." Watts also shared successes and challenges for foundations starting out. The group also toured Arizona Federal and Desert Schools FCU.

In Madison, the group met with WOCCU's Worldwide Foundation manager, Valerie Breunig, who discussed the importance of organizational structure and how to find donors. She also worked through potential business strategies with Caja Libertad, reviewed goals and discussed how to raise funds.

Kris Hoffman Ackley, the National Credit Union Foundation's director of donor relations, provided an indepth view of fundraising at a national level.

The group also met with Selfreliance Ukrainian American FCU, Chicago, where CEO Bohdan Watral and his staff discussed their community reinvestment activities.

Webinar Bridges New York and Puerto Rico

Credit unions in Puerto Rico and the New York State Credit Union League (NYSCUL) expanded their partnership this week during the first World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) International Partnership webinar.

Juan E. Fernández, NYSCUL community development coordinator explained, “We conducted the webinar because we wanted our partners to be able to ask questions about services and issues in real time.”

During the webinar New York State Credit Union League provided participating Puerto Rico credit unions temporary access and hands on experience with all of the league's cyberservices. With Puerto Rico’s credit unions operating under similar requirements as its US partner, the member compliance section of the website and the support services were of particular interest to the group.

NYSCUL hopes to open Puerto Rico up to the outside world through its connections and training initiatives with other leagues and CUNA. Some of NYSCUL's legal staff has already started reviewing Puerto Rican law to be able to answer credit union queries.

The International Partnership hopes to provide vital services to credit unions in Puerto Rico, where credit unions do not have league of their own to provide education, training and compliance services. Because of the initiatives undertaken by the partnership, individual credit unions in Puerto Rico are able to join the NYSCUL as direct members.

Iowa Pioneers with Panama for CU-Specific Regulation

Five delegates from the Iowa Credit Union League (ICUL) went to Panama during the second week of January to aid the efforts of the Panama credit union league (COFEP) in establishing credit union regulation.

The visit was the two leagues' fourth face-to-face exchange in the two years as part of their internatinoal partnership through WOCCU.

The ICUL group visited four credit unions, met with government officials and COFEP executives, and spoke at a one-day conference on credit union best practices. One topic of interest ot the Panama group is lobbying and its potential benefits.

"For the great majority, a relatively new topic like lobbying or lobbying to achieve positive things for the credit unions was interesting," said COFEP CEO Jacinto Villarreal.

Pat Drennen, ICUL board director and general manager of 1st Gateway CU, Camanche, said it is sometimes difficult for the Iowa team to convince their counterparts that lobbying is a good thing.

"The issue of...lobbying is kind of foreign in Panama because the mindset is that if you're talking to a government offical, you're bribing them," he explained.

In a symbolic gesture at the end of the conference, ICUL gave a letter directed to Panama's president to Arnulfo de León, the government's director of human resources. The letter expressed the need for credit union-specific regulation in Panama.

Picture taken during a visit to El Palacio de las Garzas where the President of Panama has his offices.

Alabama & Costa Rica CU-to-CU Partnerships Kick Off

Representatives from three Alabama credit unions made their first trip to Costa Rica in late December in search of opportunities to expand their relationships with partnering Costa Rican credit unions.

The first afternoon of the visit was spent with FEDEAC's board of directors, where visitors became acquainted with their overseas peers in the national federation.

The group also joined COOPENAE for an evening to help celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Throughout the remainder of the stay, representatives met with their partnering credit unions and identified a work plan beneficial to each organization.

Gary Wolter, CEO, and Vicki Williams, SEVP & COO, of the Alabama Credit Union League joined Manuel Bolaños, FEDEAC CEO, and Victor Corro, WOCCU International Partnerships Manager, during the week to identify areas in which FEDEAC can better serve its members.

The group included representatives from Community CU, Gadsden; Family Security CU, Decatur; Mutual Savings CU, Birmingham; and the Alabama Credit Union League. There are currently 5 credit union-to-credit union partnerships between Alabama and Costa Rica.

Vermont & Peru Meet for the First Time

(CU Visit to VT State Employees CU. Back Row: Rocio Miyashiro (ABACO CEO), Verónica Miyahira (ABACO Marketing Manager), Victor Corro (WOCCU Int'l Partnerships Manager), Miguel Zeballos (AELUCOOP CEO), Liliana Valdizán (FinanTel CEO), Jorge Zevallos (FENACREP Chairman), Joe Bergeron (Association of VT CUs President). Front Row: Manuel Rabines (FENACREP President & WOCCU Treasurer), Steven Post (VT State Employees CU CEO), VT State Employees CU Board Member

The Association of Vermont Credit Unions hosted six leaders of the Peru credit union movement the first week of November. This first meeting between the two potential partners served to acquaint the movements and provided an opportunity to identify areas in which they are able to work together to enhance their movements. The Peruvian delegation found interesting Vermont’s legal and regulatory structure for credit unions, as well as technological services such as home banking, ATM networks, and shared branching.

During their three day visit, Joe Bergeron and Bryan Kent (President and Vice President of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions respectively) took Manuel Rabines (President of FENACREP and WOCCU Treasurer) and five Peruvian credit union CEOs to the Credit Union of Vermont, Heritage Family CU, Vermont State Employees CU, Central Vermont Medical Center CU, and Caswell CU where they were able to meet the credit union managers and build acquaintances for future reunions. These credit unions vary in size and gave visitors an opportunity to identify trends and the differences between larger and smaller CUs in Vermont. They also visited the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration where they were given a presentation on credit union regulatory practices. WOCCU was represented by Dr. Brian Branch, COO, Victor Miguel Corro, International Partnerships Manager, and Michelle Kramer, International Partnerships Assistant.

To view more photos from this visit, please click here.

Written by Michelle Kramer

Second Partnership Briefing and Hike the Hill during ICU week

Washington, DC—World Council of Credit Unions held an International Partnerships meeting Friday, October 20, in Arlington, Virginia. Twenty-six credit union leaders from United States leagues and World Council shared the progress of their individual partnerships and used the meeting as a forum for best practices.
Representatives from Connecticut, Washington, DC, Missouri, Texas, California, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Iowa, Alabama, and North Carolina reported on successes in 2006 and gave an overview of planned activities for 2007. The case study for this year’s briefing was the Ohio Credit Union League, Corporate One Federal Credit Union, WOCCU-Bolivia and the Bolivian Credit Union System and World Council. This international partnership focused on technology and connecting credit unions in Bolivia with a shared branching system.

In addition to the partnership briefing, World Council of Credit Unions and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) celebrated International Credit Union Day at a reception on Capital Hill in Washington, DC. Over 60 representatives from congressional offices, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors and state leagues involved in World Council’s International Partnerships participated in the event.

Click on link for press release on ICU day and partnership briefing.

For lots of pictures of both events click here

Arizona & Caja Libertad Celebrate ICU Day

(Photo: Credit union visit to Arizona Federal. Back row: Arturo Dorado, Raúl Martinez, Laura Lowe Edgar, Front Row: Ruben Toledo, Susana León, Tricia Drexel)

Susana León, Marketing Manager, and Rubén Toledo, Market Analyst, presented Caja Libertad's marketing strategies and statistics at both the Valley of the Sun Chapter Dinner and the Southern Arizona Chapter Dinner in celebration of ICU Day. When delegates from Arizona traveled to Mexico, they heard a similar presentation and decided to invite Susana and Rubén to Arizona so their credit unions could hear how Caja Libertad carries out marketing procedures.

Raúl Martinez, Vice President of Loans & Collections, and Arturo Dorado, Call Center Manager, also made the trip to Arizona to learn about call center operations such as applied technology, strategies for loan sales, and services available to members.

“Our recent visit to several credit unions in Arizona was very fruitful indeed. We (Caja Libertad’s officers) had the chance to learn marketing strategies and also, the chance of sharing our own strategies and information about the Mexican Market in the US. We are also honored for having been part of the celebrations of International Credit Union Day in Arizona. This partnership between Caja Libertad and ACUS has turned out to be a true cooperative interchange and continuous growth for both parts,” stated Ruben Toledo, market analyst.

More pictures here

Written by Michelle Kramer

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

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

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.