European parliamentarians support regulatory relief for credit unions
MADISON, WI (March 27, 2018) — The European Parliament Credit Union Interest Group met on 27 March with the European Network of Credit Unions to hold a Round Table Discussion on the Banking Reform Package and Exempted entities and ways to provide regulatory relief for credit unions. Credit unions currently operate in a number of European countries including the Republic of Ireland, Estonia, Romania, Poland, the United Kingdom and Macedonia. They contribute to the European social economy by supporting thousands of communities and more than 7 million European households with financial services.
The Interest Group, a caucus for Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who support credit unions, held the meeting at the European Parliament’s Espace Leopold building in Brussels. MEP Marian Harkin (Republic of Ireland), who is Co-Chair of the Interest Group, MEP Paul Tang (the Netherlands), who is Vice-Chair of the Interest Group, and MEP Sven Giegold, a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) engaged European Commission representatives and European Network of Credit Unions members on the challenges credit unions face and ways to reform regulations that can reduce unnecessary regulatory burden to support increased credit union activities in the European Union.
At the meeting, MEP Giegold stated “We need to preserve the business model of smaller, low-risk actors such as good Credit Unions which play a useful role for the stability of the European banking sector. Financial regulation must not overburden small banks with administrative requirements but needs to properly address the risks posed by systemic institutions.”
Representatives of the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU), the National Association of Co-operative Savings and Credit Unions (NACSCU) of Poland, the Estonian Union of Credit Cooperatives (EUCC), and World Council of Credit Unions also shared their views with MEPs on how European Union policy can provide regulatory relief for credit unions in Europe.
MEP Paul Tang, European Parliament, MEP Marian Harkin, European Parliament, Michael S. Edwards, VP and General Counsel, WOCCU, MEP Sven Giegold, European Parliament and MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, European Parliament.
About World Council of Credit Unions
World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development platform 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 300+ technical assistance programs in 90 countries. Worldwide, 82,758 credit unions in 97 countries serve 404 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.
