Robert Kelly, CEO of the Association of British Credit Unions, Ltd. (ABCUL), said the U.K. is underdeveloped when it comes to the fact too few of its citizens are served by credit unions, and it remains behind on technology, products and services, CUSOs and just “getting in front of people’s everyday lives.”
Kelly, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, offered his comments in his home city to the World Council’s World Credit Union Conference.
Kelly said that when he joined the credit union community 20 years ago, “I have to confess I didn’t know what a credit union was. I actually went home and chastised my parents about that. My dad said, ‘I’ve been a member of one for years, I just never told you.’ Yes, I did work for the dark side at Morgan Stanley and it was a wonderful experience, but it told me I didn’t want to be in that sector for too long.”
Instead, Kelly said, working in credit unions has been a “wonderful opportunity to help ordinary people afford their daily lives.”
What’s Needed in a ‘Storm’
To help people, however, requires cooperation, including among cooperatives, he said.
“Cooperation is not an actual behavior. We need to work very hard to collaborate coalesce and work together to provide a brighter future to the people we serve every day,” he said. “That’s the reason there are so many people in this room. Let’s make sure to redouble our efforts, to put our members first and help them through the stormy waters around the world.”