Members of the Manx Credit Union Working Party are urging people to show their support for a Manx Credit Union by responding to the recently launched consultation by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission.
 
The FSC has issued a high level consultation document seeking views ahead of the draft of a new Credit Union Bill, in particular looking at the regulations which should apply to credit unions.
 
“We welcome the launch of this consultation which represents a big step forwards on our journey to create a credit union for the people of the Isle of Man,” said Manx Credit Union Working Party Chairman David Talbot. 
 
“We are appealing to everyone who is interested in having a credit union to write to the FSC to show their support and say why they are behind it. It is not necessary to have an understanding of the legislative or regulatory detail – we just need to show there is a demand for a credit union and what people want from it so that the appropriate changes to current law can be made.”
 
Ensuring any proposed changes to legislation and regulation are fit and proper is vital.

“It is really important that any new legislation is enabling and provides scope for future growth of a credit union,” said Mr Talbot.  “We have concerns that some of the FSC’s suggestions, such as their comments around savings and loans caps, would be far too restrictive and would not allow a future credit union to provide the services its members would want." 
 
“Having been frustrated in launching a credit union by the current gaps in legislation and financial regulation, we don’t want to find ourselves in the future being hampered again by the introduction of an over-prescriptive and narrow-sighted framework now.”
 
The Manx Credit Union Working Party is also pushing for amendments to credit union legislation to be moved higher up the Government’s agenda. 
 
“The consultation re-iterates the Council of Ministers’ view that the Bill should be added to the legislative programme as ‘a lower priority’,” said Mr Talbot. “In reality that could mean it is years before any new regulation or legislation is passed. 
 
“We believe the Manx public want access to a credit union much sooner than that and the more voices we have calling for it, the better our chances of achieving this.”
 
The FSC consultation is open until 13th March 2015 and can be found online at http://www.fsc.gov.im/lib/docs/fsc/consultations/consultationoncreditunionshighleveli.pdf

For more information on the Manx Credit Union go to www.mcu.im  email info@mcu.im or call 619459.