A Report On Research into Credit Union Directors (February 2020)
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From: Department of Finance
- Published on: 12 February 2020
- Last updated on: 12 February 2020
The Minister for Finance asked the Credit Union Advisory Committee (CUAC) to look at “people” aspects of the credit union sector in 2019. Given the depth and breadth of how the role of the Director has changed over the previous six years and its central governance function, CUAC believed that there would be valuable insights to be gained from this important cohort.
This research had a number of purposes: primarily to understand the issues and challenges facing Directors and to explore their role in the context of the current governance structure, operating framework and the broader environment that credit unions conduct business in. Furthermore, it was designed to provide a better understanding and obtain a more detailed profile of credit union Boards thereby helping to inform policy decisions in relation to Boards and Directors.
The CUAC was grateful for the strong support shown by credit unions, representative bodies and Directors themselves for this research.
The first phase of this process consisted of focus groups designed to guide the development of the second phase. Four focus groups were held with 36 Directors from randomly selected credit unions from different size cohorts.
The second phase consisted of a Board Facts Questionnaire which was to be completed by the Secretary, Manager or other staff member on behalf of the individual credit union. It also consisted of an Online Survey which every Director of a credit union had the opportunity to complete.
• 133 credit unions completed the questionnaire: approx. 54% of active credit unions.
• 924 Directors completed the online survey: approx. 39% of Directors in active credit unions. Directors responded from approx. 83% of credit unions.
The report can be found linked below. Also linked on this page is a copy of the Board Facts Questionnaire (excel) that was sent to individual credit unions, as well as a (pdf) copy of the questions featured in the Online Survey that directors were asked to complete.
