22 March, 2006 – Excerpts of the address given by L Andre Monteil, President of the CLICO Credit Union Co-operative Society at the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain.
“At the front of the annual report, you will see the words ‘Realizing the Dream…The Way Forward”. These words were not chosen by chance [as they] represent the position of this credit union having completed yet another successful year in 2005 and beginning its celebration of sixty years of service in 2006. You will [also] note the figure of someone who has reached a certain stage of success, with the CLICO Credit Union as its foundation, looking out the windows of opportunity to decide the way forward. In many respects, we as collective members/owners of this credit union are in a similar position. If we look back, we can see that we have made great strides from when the organization was first formed sixty years ago.
No longer are we a small savings club. Now, we are a thriving member of the non-bank financial services sector.
We have moved from an asset base that once comprised only a few hundred dollars…now, in excess of 65 million dollars.
Our Share Capital…now stands close to 48 million dollars.
These indicators of growth can only spell good news fro our membership which takes advantage of the varied and enhanced products thatare constantly made available to them…to achieve their dreams in easy and affordable ways.
Our membership has already crossed 6000 and we are poised to change our status from being a medium-sized to a large credit union.
We are thankful to God for all we have been able to accomplish so far but the question is, “Where do we go from here?”
With the rapid rate of increase in membership, we are looking to see how best we can extend the existing premises to make it a veritable one-stop shop for our members.
As we embrace these opportunities for gorwth we must also consider those that are practically on our doorstep. I call to mind the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). I would like us to start thinking of whether this will eventually open the door for our CL Financial counterparts in the region to join our Credit Union. Likewise, if it will enable us to establish offices throughout the Caribbean.
We must decide how much and how fast we will continue to grow and take the necessary steps to ensure that we are well prepared for this growth.”
