BRIDGETOWN, Barbados–The “money is rolling into Barbados Workers’ Union Co-operative Credit Union (BWUCCU) as Barbadians continue to pull their money out of commercial banks and pour it into credit unions instead.
According to local media reports, “BWUCCU is the latest to benefit following the Central Bank’s decision in 2015 to remove the 2.5% minimum interest rates for commercial banks.”
BWUCCU General Manager Corinne Clarke said the credit union had seen a 21% increase in deposits as well as an 8% increase in membership over the last year.
“Since the lowering of the deposit rate, we found that we’ve got lots of deposits,” Clarke said. “Persons are searching around for higher rates because obviously the banks are giving less. So, we’ve seen an increase in membership as well because of the lowering of the rates, so people are moving.”