Brian Branch looks back on 30 years in credit unions

Tuesday 23 January 2024

This week in Coop news, they caught up with President and CEO of WOCCU as he prepares to retire.

Brian Branch retires from the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) in June, after more than three decades in the movement. He has served as WOCCU’s president and CEO since 2011 – one of the longest stints at the helm of the World Council.

Reflecting on his time in the role and his view on the credit union sector, Brain says it is harder for credit unions to meet the cost of regulatory burdens and keep up with consumer expectations on tech. This has led to more co-operation among credit unions to share some costs, develop infrastructure, provide back-office support, recruit and train personnel, and develop access to digital tech.

WOCCU’s Vision 2020 goal to reach 260 million credit union members worldwide by 2020 was achieved three years ahead of its target. WOCCU found that credit unions experiencing the greatest growth were those that offering digital access. This prompted it to launch Challenge 2025, a campaign to advance the digitisation of the global credit union system.

Another important project for WOCCU has been working with credit unions around the world to expand financial services to women. The apex also tried to encourage more women to take up leadership roles within their credit unions. In 2009 WOCCU set up the Global Women’s Leadership Network, which brings together women from credit unions to exchange experiences. GWLN also runs local chapters around the world. “The network is one of our proudest achievements,” said Dr Branch. Most meetings take place online, which meant that when Covid-19 struck the GWLN was quick to adapt to the remote working.

He thinks the sector will continue to grow in spite of the impact of the pandemic. “One of the lessons of Covid-19 was that people will prefer digital services to face-to-face transactions for health reasons. We will see the economic impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable … We’re going to see the tremendous impact of that economic crisis on people’s household income, their wealth, their ability to employ and operate their businesses, and
it’s going to be credit unions that have that mission and that mandate to help people through that crisis.”

He adds: “That will be an opportunity for credit unions to make the difference in local economies, compared to stockholder, for-profit institutions.

“We have to remember that credit unions are highly regulated institutions, so they will have a lot of work to do to help their members while protecting their own financial condition. It won’t be easy. It’s that co-operative-driven ethos of credit unions to help their members and the passion that drives their employees that people take note of. That will lead to more loyalty to credit unions and it will be part of what helps drive and create growth in the future.”

As to what comes next for him, Dr Branch says he will remain supportive of the movement and stay in touch with friends he has made over the years but will be taking time off to meet family commitments. “You get the credit unions in your blood,” he says.