LONDON, UK (May 20, 2014) -- Members of the International Credit Union Regulators' Network (ICURN) met on May 14–16 to share best practices on effective credit union supervision at the ICURN Annual Conference. ICURN is an independent international network of credit union regulators that promotes the guidance given by the leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) nations for greater international coordination among financial services regulators. More than 50 supervisors of financial cooperatives from jurisdictions around the world participated in the conference, which was hosted by the Bank of England's Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) at its headquarters in the City of London.
Topics discussed by the regulators included emerging supervisory concerns about financial cooperatives that are present in many countries, including interest rate risk and cyber security. Credit union capital standards, how best to ensure effective credit union corporate governance, and internal and external auditing standards were also subject to extensive dialogue.
"Having a forum for supervisors of cooperative financial institutions to discuss emerging risks and other areas of common concern is invaluable," said ICURN Chairman Martin Stewart, the PRA's Head of UK Banks and Mutuals. "Even though credit unions and other financial cooperatives vary significantly from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction in terms of the level of development and applicable rulebooks, the challenges we face as supervisors are very similar."
Speakers at the ICURN Annual Conference included Andrew Bailey, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and board member of the European Banking Authority; and Karl Cordewener, Deputy Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
Learn more about ICURN at www.CUregulators.org/CUregulators_about.
World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.
World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 56,000 credit unions in 101 countries serve 200 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.