ONE OF the State’s biggest credit unions, Killarney credit union, yesterday took the step of issuing a public statement “to quash unfounded, vicious and scurrilous rumours” about the state of its finances and to assure members, who have €76 million in savings, it was “safe and sound”.
A small number of the 20,000 members of the credit union, which is among the wealthiest in the country, had withdrawn savings because of the speculation, the chairman said yesterday.
The directors and supervisors of the credit union are conducting an investigation and it is understood they are confident of getting to the source of the rumours .
The move to put members’ minds at ease followed two weeks of rumour to the effect the credit union was in trouble and had massive write-downs.
George McSweeney, chairman of the board, said in a statement: “We want to state categorically there is no truth or foundation in any of these rumours, therefore we would like to reassure our members that we are perfectly viable and secure.”
He said the credit union was conducting an investigation into the source of the rumours. Staff at the Killarney office had to endure a lot of upset over the past two weeks and members were also angry.
The credit union had total assets of €98 million; total savings of €76 million and loans to members of €34 million.
It was affiliated to the Irish League of Credit Unions, a member of the savings protection scheme and of the Government protection scheme, which meant members savings were protected to a maximum of €112,700.
“It should be remembered that credit unions are not exposed and vulnerable to the wholesale lending market as many banks and other financial institutions are. Therefore, Killarney Credit Union Ltd is financially stable and our lending rates are not subject to the fluctuations that many other financial institutions are,” according to the statement .
The board and supervisors thanked members for their loyalty.
The Killarney union is hosting the agm of the Irish League of Credit Unions in Killarney on April 24th, 25th and 26th and 3,500 representatives of credit unions North and South will attend.