Credit unions filling the void created by bank closures - says NMCU boss

Four of North Midlands Credit Union’s six branches are in towns that have no other banking presence, manager Tom Allen told Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill during her visit to Mullingar last week.

“In two of the areas, Castlepollard and Kinnegad, Bank of Ireland closed their branches temporarily during Covid but it wasn’t long before they were closed permanently. We are the only financial institution there. We have to be supported. We are trying to do our best for those communities.

“I would often spend time meeting people, maybe an elderly person whose husband or wife has gone into hospital and they don’t how to go through the Fair Deal or other requirements that they have. I might spend an hour with them, but that is a hugely important thing.

“The number of people who come back to us and say ‘without the credit union in that circumstance I don’t know what I would have done’. That’s were we can help people.”

Mr Allen also noted that over the last year and a half, many of the people who have fled the war in Ukraine and have been relocated here have become members of NMCU, something “we are delighted to see”.

Senator Michael Carrigy, who attended the meeting with Minister Carroll MacNeill, said that when he thinks of credit unions, two words come to mind: “community and opportunity”.

“The credit union is at the heart of every community. As technology moves on, we still need that face to face. A cash society is still needed – we can’t go down the route of a cashless society. There is a massive opportunity for the credit union movement.”

Minister Carroll MacNeill added that while there have been huge technological changes in the financial sector in recent decades, the importance of the credit union movement has only grown. She also noted that while some two million Irish people use Revolut, many are also members of their local credit unions.

“Those two things don’t have to be incompatible. Ireland is going to be a great fintech location and the credit union can be part of that, but it is also a place where you can go and talk to somebody.”