The leadership of the local credit union movement must certainly be wondering why such an extensive section of the Barbadian public remains exposed and unprotected from the vagaries of operating in the local financial system.Credit unions in this country hold the deposits of more than 200 000 Barbadians. That represents an enormous portion of our population, across all demographics and economic stations.For the most part, however, the near $3 billion held by credit unions in this country are the hard-earned savings of ordinary men and women from working class homes. They are confident that credit unions are operating in their interest more so than other financial institutions and they place their savings there.Credit unions had their genesis here in the 1940s as savings societies and cooperatives, built on the philosophy of self-help.In fact, it was a group of low-income earners and members of the St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church who formed a savings union in 1947, which was known as the Shamrock Savings Union. It would go on to become the island’s first registered credit union – the Shamrock Credit Union.Commercial banks have been around long before credit unions, but for the majority of working class citizens, banks were exclusionary. Many remained unbanked and relied on their own ingenuity and family support to acquire homes and other necessities.
