Dear Editor,

On January 29, an article was carried in Sunday Finance under the byline of your business editor, Paul Rodgers.

It intimated that the safety of members' savings in some credit unions may be compromised and went on to cite reasons. This is most unfortunate, coming as it does against the background of the successful operation of credit unions in Jamaica for some 70 years and the fact that not one member has ever lost one cent of their savings in a credit union, not even during the meltdown of the financial sector in the 1990s.

We must, however, thank Mr Dass for his candid acknowledgement of the fact that "credit unions are popular with many customers who don't like the formality of banks and that credit unions often charge lower interest rates on borrowings than the banks do".

The Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL), the umbrella organisation which represents 42 of Jamaica's credit unions, seeks to assure members that their movement remains strong and their savings are safe. Our preliminary growth figures as at November 2011 show an asset base of $66.2 billion, savings of $51.6 billion and loans of $41.7 billion. Membership also continues to grow. In terms of the proposed regulation, our discussions with the Bank of Jamaica are continuing and only a few areas of disagreement remain to be ironed out.

Claudette Christie

Corporate Communications Manager

JCCUL

Kingston 5

cchristie@jccul.com

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