First Regional Co-operative Credit Union Goes Islandwide

First Regional Co-operative Credit Union has merged with the Round Hill Staff Co-operative Credit Union and the Hospitality Industries Cooperative Credit Union in a strategic move which will see First Regional expanding its scope of operations island-wide as of July 1, 2013.

Approval of the merger came at First Regional's 35th Annual General Meeting held this week-end (Saturday June 8) at the Jewel Runaway Bay Hotel, in St. Ann, and attended by some 400 members. Saturday's AGM also approved resolutions allowing First Regional to expand its remit in order to meet the needs of its new members in the hospitality industry throughout the island.

In his report to the AGM, President Hopeton Henry said First Regional's performance in 2012 had surpassed many of its targets for the year, with the Credit Union achieving an 8% growth in Total Assets; and a healthy surplus of $85.55million while expanding its membership base by 8.15%. He noted that the Credit Union focused on micro-enterprise lending during 2012, and had realized net growth of $66.08-million in its loan portfolio. Mr. Henry described the overall performance as "outstanding", particularly in light of the "global and local economy which did not foster prosperity" in 2012.

Turning to the National Debt Exchange (NDX), the Credit Union President pointed out that First Regional had been minimally affected by the NDX, and had suffered no liquidity issues because of the strong "architecture of its investment portfolio."

First Regional is headquartered in St. Ann and currently serves its over 53,000 members in the parishes of St. Ann and St. Mary through its 10 branches. It will open a new branch at Round Hill in Hanover on July 1.

First Regional Co-operative Credit Union has consistently turned out creditable performance over the years, and was named Credit Union of the Year in 2005; Mega Credit Union of the Year for 2006 and 2009; and Most Outstanding Parish Credit Union for the six-year period 2005-2010.