The Central Bank of Ireland has just published its fourth report on the sector – Financial Conditions of the Credit Unions: 2013-2018. There are some encouraging features: the continued growth in savings shows the retained loyalty of many members, while the loan-to-asset ratio has risen by 1% to 28%. But this latter figure remains the critical indicator of trading performance – 28% is simply too low to be sustainable and return on assets continues downward. One year on from the Centre’s landmark report on the need for the development of the Irish credit union business model, the requirement for change remains clear. There are many other interesting data points and trends in the report – food for thought for our GB members too.
The regulator also notes the establishment of the CEO Forum on Business Model Development as one of its important initiatives in 2018 – Ralph and Paul presented to that group as we reported in July.
