A press release arrived at the desks of business editors recently, courtesy of Heather Humphreys, Fine Gael TD for Cavan-Monaghan. It was headed: “Credit unions must not be regulated out of existence.”
In it, Humphreys urges the Government to ensure credit unions are regulated differently from other financial institutions, such as banks. “ over-zealous approach is greatly limiting the scope of credit unions to generate credit within their communities and is threatening their very existence. There is a danger that in our attempts to eliminate credit-union risk we could end up getting rid of credit unions,” she writes.
“As we know, the continued flow of credit is absolutely essential to the recovery of our economy. What better vehicle to use at a local level, whether for individuals or small business, than the credit union?”
Humphreys, a great champion of the movement, adds: “We need to take cognisance of the vital and unique role of credit unions.”
A further point she makes is a little worrying, however. She writes that credit unions “give loans based on money they already have, as opposed to banks who, as we know to our peril, borrow money in order to lend it”.
Eh, not really. Credit unions borrow deposits from customers to lend on to other customers.
Humphreys fails to mention in her press release that she was, until the election, the general manager of Cootehill Credit Union.