For some time Barbados Underground has been expressing concern about the ‘noise’ emanating from the largest credit union in Barbados. For many Barbadians at home AND in the diaspora the Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union (BPWCCU) is seen as the alternative to the banks. It is therefore of concern to observe the quality of interventions being offered at meetings of the membership.
Unlike the banks members have the opportunity to participate in the affairs of the credit union by offering themselves to be elected to the Board of Directors, Supervisory and Credit Committees and tabling resolutions designed to improve the management of the credit union. The level of ‘filibustering’ routinely occurring at annual general meetings and special meeting called exposes a trend of a minority membership intent on showcasing a high level of ignorance and/or pursuing narrow interest at any cost.
The blogmaster understands items on the agenda to elect officers to the Board of Directors, Credit and Supervisory Committees had to be deferred at yesterday’s AGM because of an injunction – see AGM Agenda. The credit union movement in Barbados is being affected like many other entities because of the lack of quality individuals offering themselves to be elected to key positions. Instead, we have the same opportunistic actors working the system to rotate through available positions. Social media was abuzz last week at the news of a well known Barbados Labour Party (BLP) acolyte who is aggressively seeking to be nominated to the Board of Directors.
At yesterday’s meeting there was an attempt to have the meeting postponed because of the court order. Why would any person with a minimum of financial intelligence be unable to appreciate that other agenda items like the reports from the supervisory and credit committees are important to be reported on? The BPWCCU is not a rum shop, it is a financial company with a billion dollar balance sheet. One is left to wonder if members who attend AGMs and Special meetings are suffering from a variant of the Peter Principle. It is refreshing to observe a process that facilitates contributions from any member of the credit union. It was good sense prevailed with the resolution to postpone the meeting defeated, democracy at work.
Matters like the use of credit cards by officers of the credit union consume valuable time at AGMs. This is a type of matter management should address by gathering information on how best in class companies manage corporate credit cards and make the information available to membership to guide and lift the quality of discussion.
We should be able to discuss issues and intelligently arrive at a position of consensus in the interest of the greater good. Instead, we have the opposite occurring where all discussants are prepared to defend positions to the death at all cost, see a recent BU blog – Have we become too polarized?.
The blogmaster understands local regulatory bodies have to be circumspect about publicly commenting on matters affecting financial institutions. That said, it is obvious to anyone observing how the affairs of the large credit credit unions are being manged, a bigger effort must be made to encourage greater participation by members. If this is not done the case of stool floating to the top will challenge the efficient workings of one of our successful businesses.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.