Northern Community Bank staff and board members joined Credit Unions from around the United Kingdom this weekend at the North West Forum of Credit Unions annual WOW conference in Blackpool.
The conference sees Credit Union staff and volunteers from a range of community based Credit Union, as well as Credit Unions for a particular employer or in a particular industry. All those that attend are members of ABCUL which is the trade association that represents Credit Unions to governments, policy makers and the media, whilst helping to provide information, training and development services to help its members grow as sustainable financial services providers.
The aim of the conference is to bring together people working for Credit Unions at all levels to discuss common issues, share best practice and attend different seminars and lectures on topics which will help us to improve the service we provide to account holders.
Northern Community Bank’s chief operating officer Deborah Smith-Hands opened the weekend with a session presented by the members of Inspire, which is the Northwest’s network of young credit union professionals. The 90 credit union representatives in attendance heard excellent presentations from South Manchester Credit Union’s Beck on the best way to communicate with account holders, whilst Metro Moneywise Credit Union’s Alex and Megan detailed a partnership they have formed with Credit Unions from The Gambia in West Africa after attending the Credit Union Development Education (DE) Program.
Other sessions included how we help account holders, ways to implement co-operative principles into the day to day running of the credit union, and the Board of Director’s roles and responsibilities.
The weekend was fortunate to also have representatives from Leicester, London and Nottingham’s Credit Unions. Although Northern Community Bank only provide savings and loan accounts to the residents of Burnley, Pendle and surrounding areas, it is reassuring to know we are part of a nationwide movement of co-operatives that share the same aims.
We attend and participate in training sessions to develop the service we provide to account holders, if you see an area where we could improve please contact Northern Community Bank with your feedback. This can be done here online, in branch through a feedback form or by speaking to a member of staff.
Northern Community Bank is your business – please help to shape it!
