New legislation will drive and enhance the ability of credit unions to address the rapidly evolving market in which they operate, Finance Minister Larry Howai said when he address the 40th Annual General Meeting of Eastern Credit Union (ECU) at La Joya, St Joseph. In his feature address at the meeting, the minister noted ECU’s accomplishments during its 41 years of operation.
“Eastern Credit Union opened its doors in 1973 with 22 members with an initial investment of $59.20 and can now boast of a membership in excess of 170,000, an asset base of over $1.6 billion and a loan portfolio of over $1.0 billion with a share capital of $1.14 billion,” Howai said.
He added that based on statistics provided by the Central Bank, 33 per cent of the population has membership in a credit union, and collectively, credit unions manage approximately $10 billion in assets, or almost four per cent of the total assets in the financial system. During the meeting, which was attended by more than 1100 ECU members, Gloria Rolingson was re-elected president. Other elected officers are vice president, Clyde Herbert and assistant secretary Alana Blackman.
Helen Bernard and Marlon Mark Phillips were elected as executive committee directors and the other directors of the 12 member board are Don Isaac, Janelle Benjamin, Harvey Borris, Cheryl Moses, Stephanie Wilson, Gary Cross and Nigel Mathew. The Supervisory Committee chairman is Kirk Ferguson with Darius Figuera as secretary. Other members are James George Thomas, Joel John and Wendy Williams.
For the Credit Committee, Pearl Gonzales was voted as chairman and Jacqueline Humphrey as secretary. The other members are Gerard Mathews, Mary Thompson and Richard Griffith.