The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) is conducting pilot projects with a view to developing a new IT platform for its members.
Mr Liam O'Dwyer, chief executive of the ILCU, said he was confident that, on this occasion, there would be no repeat of the disastrous Isis project, when the league spent €34 million on a new IT system before having to abandon the project. The Isis failure led to a crisis within the credit union movement, which has resulted in significant reform.
Mr O'Dwyer said he was not nervous about the project because of the way it was structured. There have been negotiations regarding the project with the credit union regulators in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Four credit unions are involved in the pilot phase.
The idea is to devise a system that will allow the electronic transfer of funds to credit union accounts as well as the withdrawal of funds via ATMs.
The new regulator for the credit unions, Mr Brendan Logue, has told The Irish Times that he is likely to recommend to the Department of Finance that restrictions on longer-term loans by credit unions should be eased.
Such a move could open the way for mortgage lending by credit unions, though Mr O' Dwyer said this was not a priority for the movement at this time.
The final implementation report linked to reforms of the ILCU, recommended in a 2002 study by Mr Phil Flynn, was sent out by the league this week.
Mr Liam O'Reilly, chief executive of the Irish Financial Services Regulation Authority (IFSRA), and the credit union regulator, Mr Logue, completed a series of meetings with credit unions around the State yesterday. They met more than 600 representatives from 244 unions.
Mr Logue said the overwhelming majority of credit unions were well-run. "It is nevertheless true that a small minority have encountered a range of difficulties, and this reinforces the need for better corporate governance and enhanced regulation."
Mr Logue was at the annual general meeting of the Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork, where, at one stage, he and two colleagues were surrounded by a group of angry members. At another stage of the meeting, a bottle was hurled at directors of the credit union.
