Why should we care about helping grow credit unions worldwide?
As our economy ebbs and flows, with an uncertain election outcome and the increasing disruption in the competitive landscape of financial services, credit unions and their associations face more pressure than ever to stay relevant. Focusing on growing our local credit unions seems challenging enough. Should growing credit unions internationally really be a priority?
In short, yes. By definition, credit unions operate by the Cooperative Principles. Cooperation among Cooperatives and Concern for Community are two of our seven global credit union principles that bind and unite us together as a global credit union community. It’s also good for business.
Leveraging global is a new approach many U.S. leagues and associations have deployed to add new value to their member credit unions. Even individual credit unions see engaging globally as a competitive advantage to engage their teams as well as align their brand to a mission that resonates both locally AND globally.
How is global being leveraged?
- Study tours: Leagues find value in creating thematically focused study tours that provide access to emerging trends and solutions their international peers face—sometimes ahead of the United States. Issues like open banking, climate finance and digitization are recurring topics. Leagues are able to be proactive locally as well as federally by immersing themselves and members in these study tours to intimately understand international reactions—political or otherwise—to these emerging, global issues.
- Leadership development: Leagues use the Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN) and the World Young Professional Program (WYCUP) to offer nuanced, global engagement around empowering women and emerging leaders. These two powerful, global peer networks talk and act around unique—yet common—issues and challenges they face.
- Service support: Offering service opportunities in the wake of a crisis keeps Leagues closely connected with the work credit unions do as financial first-responders. Facilitating service trips and virtual engagement between US members and global peers who have been impacted offers a profound impact of perspective. It also provides critical, continued support of credit union systems staying resilient in the face of crisis.
These three specific global touchpoints combine into one- to three-year “Global Journeys” intentionally curated and facilitated by World Council and the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions as the bridge builder between the U.S. and International credit union systems.
In light of the 76th anniversary of International Credit Union Day on October 17th and as we continue to celebrate throughout the year, ask, “How are you being global?”
The examples above are just the tip of the iceberg of new value and new potential that leagues and credit unions can bring forward to differentiate and grow.
We encourage all members of our movement, at all levels of our global credit union community, to stay united more than ever and leverage what the World Council and the Worldwide Foundation for credit unions have to offer. Together, let’s reinforce perspective and add value to key stakeholders—while supporting our global credit union community.
Co-author: Brad Miller, President, American Association of Credit Union Leagues
