C&WJCCU, an innovative credit union

COMMUNITY & Workers Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union (C&WJCCU) holds the enviable position of market leader in innovation, having been the first credit union to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. With assets of $17.758 billion in 2019, it sits in the number one spot among the island’s 25 credit unions, having seen a 110 per cent growth rate over the past four years. Also, C&WJCCU was the first to introduce a prepaid MasterCard to its members.

These trendsetting achievements belie its age, having started operations on April 24, 1961, 59 years ago as, JTC Employees Co-operative Credit Union Ltd. Along the way, C&WJCCU merged with the St Elizabeth Co-operative Credit Union and D&G

Co-operative Credit Union to move its membership from 73,961 to 129,000, an increase of 74 per cent, with a customer service ranking of 97 per cent.

In recognising the fact that its shareholders/members are integral to the growth and sustainability of C&WJCCU, the credit union has put in place programmes aimed at meeting their needs. The most recent of these were the moratoria on loans; relief products and contactless hybrid products and services, the latter of which are aimed at reducing risks associated with contact within the physical spaces, while still providing ‘in-person’ engagements for those who need that service throughout its 21 branches, in nine parishes.

“We have plans to further grow the C&WJCCU with a global reach over the next five years, through significant investments in new products and services, as well as a rebranding exercise to make the credit union more appealing primarily to the new generation,” said Condell Stephenson, president of the C&WJCCU.

He explained that there are plans for continuous improvement in the ATM network, a full islandwide rollout of the prepaid MasterCard, a new logo and the creation of an individual retirement scheme for small business operators.

Stephenson said that amid the uncertainties of the current pandemic, C&WJCCU was determined to survive working together with its stakeholders/ members, staff and volunteers, based on a sense of ‘belonging’.

Front row (from left): Andrea Messam (1st vice-president), Carol Anglin (director), Brenda Cuthbert (assistant secretary). Second row (from left): Martin Blackwood (director), Ryan Muir (director), Hector Stephenson (director), Michael Anglin (director), Alexander Bourne (director), Patrick Smith (assistant treasurer). Back row (left to right): Norris Gilbert (Treasurer), O’Neil Grant (2nd Vice President), Jerry Hamilton (Secretary), Bornette Donaldson (Director), Winston Fletcher (Immediate Past President). Not pictured: Lambert Johnson (President).