Credit Union rises to €130 million in assets after successful year

By TONY GALVIN AS ONE of the few banking success stories on an otherwise bleak financial horizon, St Jarlath's Credit Union is celebrating another successful year and looking to 2013 with vigour and confidence. Manager Mick Culkeen told The Herald that they were able to announce assets of €130 million at their AGM held on Monday night, and with over 1,000 new members joining this year they were confident that they were going from strength to strength. 'Our policy of putting the members' interests to the fore in all we do is paying dividends in terms of keeping our established membership base and adding to it at a rate of at least 100 a month over the past year. We hope to announce expanded services in the near future which will further enhance what we have to offer and bring us in line with advances in modern banking technology,' he said.[private] On the issue of credit union amalgamations, he said that it was now accepted that the current figure of 400 unions nationwide would be whittled down to 100 in the next three or four years. The necessary clearance at EU level for such mergers has just been obtained in recent days and progress is expected in this area over the coming year. St Jarlath's is in the top tier of credit unions in the country. This tier consists of only 20 credit unions with assets of over €100 million. The surplus for the year at St Jarlath's is €2.4 million and a dividend of over €500,000 is being paid out to members. €14.6 million is kept in reserves, 11 per cent of assets. St Jarlath's has €112 million in savings and has loaned €30 million to members. The great bulk of assets, €104 million, is placed in 100 per cent safe investments and comes under the Government guarantee scheme. 'The ethos of St Jarlath's has been changed around entirely and the public can have confidence that matters are administered to the highest ethical and accounting standards. We are proud of the product we have to offer and welcome new members to join with us as we forge a modern, functional and user-friendly service which is designed to serve the needs of the people and the communities it serves,' Mick Culkeen said. St Jarlath's is in the process of considering how best to serve its members into the future. A debit card system is likely, as is a framework to advise and assist members in getting the best value in insurance. The concept is simple but could save the average member a considerable sum. Basically, St Jarlath's can use its experience and skills base to access and identify the most cost- effective way of providing cover. In this way, for instance, members who are still paying house insurance based on the boom-time value of their homes can get their policies reassessed to keep in line with current values. The matter of out-dated policies and policies of dubious value will also be dealt with. It is likely that St Jarlath's may act as an agent for members in insurance matters but there are no plans to go into direct competition with companies.[/private]