SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—After two years of efforts, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico is reporting little to no progress in reforming the Public Corporation for the Supervision & Insurance of Cooperatives in Puerto Rico (COSSEC), a new report claims.
COSSEC is responsible for overseeing and insuring some of the island's credit unions or cooperatives.
On August 4, 2017, The Financial Oversight and Management Board had certified the Fiscal Plan for COSSEC. On August 19, 2018, COSSEC issued its revised Fiscal Plan for COSSEC, which was never certified by The Financial Oversight and Management Board, reported Keith Leggett, the former senior vice president and senior economist at the ABA.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board wrote in its Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Report that "there is a need for COSSEC to have stronger and independent governance in order to exercise its role as a regulator and insurer," stated Leggett.
Reforms would also include adopting regulatory and accounting reporting standards and capital levels more consistent with to that of Federal regulators, Leggett said.
“Without meaningful reforms, federally-insured credit unions could face potential reputation risk from bad headlines about COSSEC,” Leggett said.