South American Credit Unions

A delegation from the Brazilian co-operative and credit union movement visited Manchester as part of a 9-day study trip organised with the Co-operative College in May 2017. Martin Logan of the British Credit Union Historical Society said after his presentation on the British movement “Co-operation is what credit unions are good at, at local level, at national level and above all at international level.” Brazil is home to one of the world’s largest and fastest growing credit union movements. 582 credit unions serve 6.3 million members across the country, and the sector’s assets are worth over £21 billion.

Sicredi is one of the largest cooperative financial institutions in Brazil.  It is made by people and for people, and now has over 3,5 million members and a comprehensive portfolio of banking products and services. Martin Logan of the British Credit Union Historical Society said after his presentation on the British movement “Co-operation is what credit unions are good at, at local level, at national level and above all at international level.” Brazil is home to one of the world’s largest and fastest growing credit union movements. 582 credit unions serve 6.3 million members across the country, and the sector’s assets are worth over £21 billion.

Brazilian Visit May 2019

Martin Logan of the British Credit Union Historical Society gave a talk on the history of the British Movement and Jim Clancy website co-ordinator introduced delegates to the Historical Society’s website of approximately 465 credit unions and the resources that can be downloaded and adapted to suit their own needs. A visit to Rochdale Pioneer History Museum took place on the 21^st in the afternoon with a talk on the history of Rochdale at the time and how the first co-operative came about in 1844. The visit to Metro Moneywise Credit union followed at their Headquarters at Globe house. A short video was shown of the credit union signing up members in 1990 at the old co-op building they had just visited. The presentation by Ciara the CEO was received with great interest and followed with a lot of questions and answers of which the interpreter handles nicely. The statistics presented was of most interest to a number of the delegates.