Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis encouraged credit unions to expand and increase their services in Family Island communities where banking facilities are lacking.

Dr. Minnis made this encouraging plea yesterday during the World Council of Credit Unions and Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions Conference at the Atlantis Ballroom.

He explained that the cooperative credit union sector in The Bahamas has enormous potential and room for growth, although the far flung island chain poses enormous challenges to national development. 

“This includes having to replicate on many islands and settlements the same essential and other services such as schools, ports, airports, hospitals, roads, security, and electricity,” Dr. Minnis said.

“Within this context, credit unions can play an essential role, especially in the many under-banked communities we have in the Family Islands.   

“We encourage the sector to find additional ways to grow and to expand their services across the archipelago, especially in those islands where the commercial banks, have exited the domestic financial services market.

“I applaud the sector for already offering services on quite a number of islands.”

Local credit unions have impacted the lives of Bahamians in meaningful ways including home ownership, higher education, small business development and favorable investment opportunities by offering competitive interest rates on savings in the country.

“I am told that the Teachers & Salaried Workers Co-operative Credit Union, the largest such entity in the country started with less than $100 dollars.  Today, this union has more than 17,000 members with over $214 million in assets,” the prime minister said.