Submitted by Joe

The Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union was not built by bankers. It was built by public servants who pooled their savings because the established banks would not serve them. It is the largest credit union in Barbados and has been empowering generations of Barbadians financially since 1970. That is why its members have every right to ask hard questions now.

The numbers in the credit union’s own annual reports are hard to ignore. Over the five years to 2025, the Group’s operating efficiency ratio worsened from 84.09 to 92.07, return on equity fell to 3.05 percent, and net income per member dropped from $103.59 in 2022 to $51.31 in 2025. Net surplus fell by 40 percent in 2025 alone. Delinquency has stubbornly sat at between 13.5 and 14.6 percent every year. In plain terms, nearly one in every seven loan dollars is in trouble, and more than 90 cents of every dollar earned is eaten up by operating costs.

Yes, the Group recorded net income before levies and taxation of $11.2 million for 2026, up from $7.2 million. But one good year after years of swings is not a turnaround. Retained income is the cushion that protects members’ savings. When that cushion grows thinly while costs climb, the institution becomes less able to absorb a shock.

Members should ask: Who is accountable for this slide? How are board candidates vetted, and why do the same names keep returning? What independent review has been done of the relationship between the board and senior management? These are not accusations. They are the questions any owner should ask, and in a credit union, the members are the owners.

The regulator has a role too. The Financial Services Commission has moved to require independent directors on credit union boards, but that directive has met formal resistance from the Barbados Consumer Empowerment Network, which questions its legal basis. Meanwhile, a new Credit Union Act remains unfinished. Barbados has already seen what failure looks like. The FSC cancelled the registration of the Progressive Co-operative Credit Union in December 2024 and liquidated it because of its financial position. The FSC must act before problems become crises, not after.

What is needed is clear. Periodic independent forensic audits of the largest credit unions. Term limits and published fit and proper criteria for directors. Full disclosure of related party dealings and executive compensation. And members who read the annual report, attend the AGM and vote.

Credit unions remain one of the few institutions in Barbados built and owned by ordinary Black Barbadians. That legacy is too precious to be lost to complacency. Let the chips fall where they may. Protecting the institution matters more than protecting any individual within it.