The Premier and Chairman of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Monetary Council the Honourable Rueben Meade urged members of the St Patrick Cooperative Credit Union (SPCCU) to select competent persons to manage the financial institution. “Select people who you will trust to manage your money properly so you can get your money back.”
The premier was speaking at the 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held after three years at the Credit Union House on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Meade also cautioned the nominees to take their responsibilities seriously. “…I say this to those who will be nominated and accept the positions. You can be taken to court for bad decisions which put the institution at risk. Let us bear that in mind. You can also lose your house and other assets because you put the institution at risk.
Board Members
Members were encouraged to transfer some of their savings into permanent share in order to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio. “There is a need for capital adequacy ratios. All indigenous banks require a minimum capital adequacy ratio. He urged the members to invest some element of their share into permanent shares. “…you need to transfer from those shares some element to permanent shares, which mean that you maintain a stake with your own institution. It means that you would meet the capital adequacy ratio much more readily and provide for us who monitor at a higher level at the monetary council level some indications that your credit union is being managed properly.”
“Persons may believe SPCU is in a bad state…you are not the worst credit union within the sub region. Montserrat is taking the lead in ensuring that we do the right thing on behalf of the people,” said the premier.
Caribbean Conference of Credit Union (CCCU) president, Mr. Melvin Edwards echoed the sentiments of the Premier. He urged members to purchase shares in SPCCU. He told the AGM attendees, the credit Union is rebounding and need the urgent support of the society. “It is not enough for each of us to be members of this Credit Union over the past 55 years and to say all the beautiful things about the credit union and we only have five dollars at risk in the Credit Union… We have to press a permanent share campaign which means the base of the credit union would become stronger… If we seriously need to strengthen and grow the credit union, this is the call.”
He highlighted a few steps that were taken over the past six months in an effort to stabilised the SPCCU Edwards explained, “…The programme we have started is a stabilization and recovery programme out of which we are seeking to simply bring the Credit Union back to normal especially in terms of its liquidity, liquid cash, its capital base, and of course, profitability. So that it can resume investing back in itself. In terms of reserves and retained earnings. So it can return dividends back to you beyond just loans and insurance.
Registrar of Cooperatives, Miss Dulcie James told the AGM that the collapse of Colonial Life Insurance Co. (CLICO) and British American Insurance Co. (BAICO) impacted the economies of the Eastern Caribbean. “The failures of these two entities have had a negative impact on Montserrat and on the Economies of the Eastern Caribbean,” she told the meeting.
A new board of directors was elected to manage the affairs of the institution. The new board of directors include Steadroy Meade, Denzil West, Herman Sergeant, Anne Thomas, Philip Mulcare, Dr. Sheron Burns and Rudolph Christopher.
Ateshia Lewis, Delmaude Ryan, Marsha Meade and Irene Sweeney were elected for the Supervisory and compliance committee. While, Keithly Chambers, Yvonelle Jeffers and Maureen Estwick were elected to serve on the Credit Committee.
