The following are excerpts  from an article published in the Inside Front Page of The Sun newspaper on  Monday, June 7, 2010   Vol 12  No. 28

'Despite the regional and international financial meltdown, the Roseau Cooperative Credit Union (RCCU) is alive and well. 

"The Society is in a sound financial position presently", wrote Linda Gonzalez Peltier, the Chairperson of the RCCU Supervisory Committee in its annual report for 2009. However management, staff, members, and volunteers need to guard against complacency."

 At its annual general meeting (held on Tuesday, June 8) the RCCU reported that it "experienced remarkable growth"  of $21,252,245 (or 8.17%) in its assets in 2009.  The credit union has total assets of $281.2M.

 "The growth in the Society's core business, originated loans was $10,570,295 (5.78%) increasing to $193., 702,382 from $183,123,087 in the previous year," said Dexter Ducreay in the Director's report....

Meanwhile, the RCCU continued one of its major original functions--a place where members save their surplus cash.  According to the RCCU annual report members of the RCCU saved $186.3M in 2009 but withdrew $173.3M from their savings.

"The Society's liabilities in respect of Members Savings was $139,214,064, an increase of $10,797,211 (8.41%) from $128,416,853 as at December 31, 2008" Ducreay stated. "There were positive signs of growth in the Member Share Capital during the year in review. The value of shares increased to $1,879,350 an increase of $121,450 (6.91%) over 2008...Total number of shares purchased by members increased by 2,429 to 37,587. "

"The challenging economic times coupled with reducing disposable income of members did not negatively impact the Society's engine of growth . The loans portfolio grew by $10,579,295 to $193,703,382 notwithstanding the increased demand for long term loans and reduction in the demand for short term loans."

On the issue of delinquency, Ducreay said the RCCU has also had some level of success by employing various strategies to manage non-performing loans. "The collections effort realized reflows of $2,705,714 during the year under review. As at December 31,2009 the delinquency ratio was 6.54%." 

Looking towards the future, Ducreay said: "The RCCU continues to spearhead the process of amalgamation with several smaller credit unions.  There was much discussion among the various credit union representatives and significant progress has been made in what can be described as a very involved process."

"We will continue the education process to ensure that members are fully aware of the importance of amalgamation in a highly competitive and fast changing environment."'

Over the past year, RCCU has focused on educating and supporting small business persons. Instructive sessions on Starting A Small Business  were conducted in 2009 with repeats held to satisfy the overwhelming demand for the session by over 100 persons. 

The  seminar, Elements of Marketing, held on May 26, 2010,  was the second in RCCU’s small business education series for 2010. It was facilitated by Ronald Jno Baptiste, Business Development Officer, and  well received by the 31 small business and other persons who attended.

Another highly rated seminar on Pricing and Costing, facilitated by Brendon Defoe--Business Consultant and attended by 40 persons, was held in April. Procurement for Small Business, the final session in this series of small business seminars is  slated for June 23 @ the National Development Foundation (NDF) Conference Room.

Other RCCU  initiatives for the small business sector included a special small business window which was launched in  September 2009 in an effort to stimulate growth in the small business sector and to create jobs. This $1M fund was quickly disbursed  for developing 14 new and existing businesses with an impact on approximately 40 jobs.

RCCU gives back to the community.

Marie-Louise Grell (RCU) with principal, Mr. Algernon Ducreay.

Morne Prosper Primary School received one (1) photocopier. Staff and students expressed their appreciation.