Danovan Reid (left), a credit officer at Montego Cooperative Credit Union, processes a loan for member Selton Samuels. - CONTRIBUTED
WESTERN BUREAU:
FOR THE third consecutive year, The Montego Co-operative Credit Union (MCCU) has made record-breaking payout of surplus to members. Coming out of its recent 23rd annual general meeting, members approved an 11 per cent dividend in addition to a five per cent interest rebate to 2005 borrowers. This figure was recommended by members of the board.
For the years 2003 and 2004 the institution broke industry records when it paid members a combined 28 per cent dividend for both years.
The credit union, MCCU board president Gerard Mitchell said, had a successful year of operation despite a difficult year for the national economy.
Despite this challenging business environment, Montego (CCU) managed to grow by expanding its business activities, improving its service delivery and realising a net surplus of $48.5 million, he explained.
The state of the credit union is borne out by the treasurer Shirlene Kerr's report to Montego's over 38,000 members.
The credit union is maintaining an institutional capital of 11 per cent while retaining undistributable earnings of over $15 million.
OUTPERFORMED
"This year (2005) we out-performed the national average of the movement in nearly all the critical areas of growth." Mrs. Kerr noted. "Our loans, assets and savings were ahead of the national average of the movement by 12.8, 0.4 and 4.1 percentage points respectively."
Her report also indicated that while there was a 16.6 per cent increase in operating expenses, the margin represented a 14.9 per cent reduction against the previous year's growth. Earning assets increased from $703 million to 809.7million and loan portfolio saw a 35.8 per cent increase from $304.4 million to $413.3 million.
Concurrently, savings in 2005 saw a 16.1 per cent increase from $559.79 million to $650.1 million.
Meanwhile, the board of directors has returned its executive en bloc to serve for the ensuing year. Chaired by Mr. Mitchell as president, the executive includes the Rev. Herman Johnson, first vice-president; Clayton Morgan, second vice-president; Mrs. Kerr, treasurer and Sharon Earle, secretary.
