Greetings on International Credit Union Day!

INTERNATIONAL CREDIT UNION DAY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CREDIT UNIONS

In the 1840s, a group of workers in Rochdale, England chose to create a democratic consumer cooperative. In 1852 and 1864, the first true credit unions were founded in Germany. These milestones were followed by efforts in the early 1900s by the Desjardins family, who started a credit union (caisse populaire) in Quebec. Shortly afterward, they helped establish credit unions in the United States.

As time passed, a need gradually emerged to establish a specific annual occasion to call attention to the impact of these financial organizations on the lives of millions of people – to honour the gifts and achievements of the many pioneers who founded credit unions and their service groups over the past 150 years. Now, the credit union movement has reached 84 countries worldwide. In 2002, 112 million credit union members celebrated ICU Day. 

HISTORY OF CREDIT UNION DAY

On January 27, 1927, the Credit Union League of Massachusetts in the United States of America celebrated the first official holiday for credit union members and workers.  This day was chosen because it was the birthday of America’s “Apostle of Thrift,” Benjamin Franklin.  However, after a brief trial period, the practice of Credit Union Day ceased.

In 1948, the U.S. Credit Union National Association (CUNA) decided to try a new national Credit Union Day celebration. The third Thursday of October was set aside as the national day of observance. By then, many more of America’s credit Union leaders believed there was a need for an occasion that would bring people together to reflect upon their cooperative history, their credit Union achievements and to promote the credit union idea across the country.

By 1971, worldwide credit union progress was so substantial that is was again decided to restructure the movement and to form the World Council of Credit Unions, Inc.  This organization assisted others in the establishment and maintenance of vialbe credit union movements, whereever the need and desire were expressed. In Canada, Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the South Pacific, national and regional credit union  federations and confederations were established to support and endorse credit union development.

WHERE AND HOW THE DAY IS CELEBRATED

As more people became involved, a variety of ways to mark the occasion were created.  Members of the World Council of Credit Unions now celebrate International Credit Union Day by sponsoring open houses at credit union facilities, picnics, fairs, festivals and parades. Other events may include public gatherings with visiting dignitaries, television and radio interviews, articles in newspapers and magazines, contests for children, and banquets to pay tribute to past, present and future credit union leaders.

UKRAINIAN CREDIT UNION MOVEMENT

The roots of the Ukrainian Credit Union Limited and other credit unions established in Canada, America, Europe and Australia lie in the Ukrainian Cooperative Movement which was based primarily in Western Ukraine. This movement, which first arose in 1883, addressed the economic plight of the western Ukrainian people through the creation of financial, agricultural and trade cooperatives that enabled western Ukrainians to pool their resources, to obtain less expensive loans and insurance, and to pay less for products such as farm equipment. The cooperatives played a major role in the social and economic mobilization of the western Ukrainian people, most of whom were peasants. By 1939 cooperatives had 700,000 members in western Ukraine, employing 15,000 Ukrainians. The cooperatives were shut down by the Soviet authorities in 1939 when western Ukraine was annexed into the Soviet Union.

The first credit union in Ukraine pre-dated even the beginning of the Cooperative movement. Vira Credit Union was established in 1874. In 1904, a central association of Ukrainian cooperatives was formed, which had 550 institutional affiliates and 180,000 individual members. After the First World War the cooperative movement grew and became elaborately organized. Credit Unions were united into the Tsentrobank ("Central Bank").

Western Ukrainians brought cooperatives with them as they emigrated to North and South America, western Europe and Australia. Credit unions served the purpose of offering personal and business loans that Ukrainian immigrants would have otherwise have had difficulty obtaining from other financial institutions. The success of the Ukrainian credit unions is reflected in the fact that by 2010, the Ukrainian Credit Unions in Canada alone have over $1.6 Billion in assets. According to an annual report produced by Bohdan Leshchyshen, MBA, CFA titled "Ukrainian Credit Unions in Canada - 2010 Financial Results", Ukrainian credit unions as a group outperform their peers in many areas.