CUBS Join Forces

A new organisation has been launched to represent and protect the interests of co-operative financial institutions such as Credit Unions, Building Societies and charitable entities (CUBS).

CUBS NZ will represent customer-owned entities in the banking and financial services sector who have combined assets of c$2b and over 100,000 member/customers nationwide, from the far North to the deep South. The founding signatories to the new organisation, many of whom are based in Regional New Zealand, are:

Unity Credit Union

Steelsands Credit Union t/a NZCU Steelsands

Credit Union Auckland t/a NZCU Auckland

Fisher & Paykel Credit Union

Nelson Building Society

Wairarapa Building Society

Heretaunga Building Society

Christian Savings Ltd

The inaugural Board of Directors are Tony Cadigan (NBS) Chair, Gavin Earle (Unity), Bruce Anderson (Christian Savings) and Rob Collins Secretary.

CUBS, some of whom have been operating in New Zealand for 160 years, have a history and reputation for providing high quality service, ethical behaviour and superior customer care. In recent times, the conduct of CUBS during both the GFC and the current pandemic has been impeccable.

Despite such a long and successful history, this is the first time a single organisation has represented their common interests and signifies a positive step forward for sector co-operation and long-term initiatives.

The objectives of CUBS NZ will be to ensure that the unique nature of the member-owned and democratically run CUBS are recognised and valued. The benefits they bring to the economy (particularly regionally) and their support for financial inclusion and social structures are essential in these troubled times.

It is important for the co-operative sector that regulators and legislators understand and properly consider the impact on CUBS of any changes in the financial services sphere. To that end, CUBS NZ will make targeted submissions on proposed regulation and legislation that is relevant to its members – particularly focussing on issues that uniquely affect their customers where their mutual or charitable structure justifies a different approach. The “one size fits all” approach is no longer appropriate.

“The past two years of the pandemic has proven that a single voice for the co-operative financial services sector is vital when dealing with regulators and Ministers,” commented inaugural Chair Tony Cadigan. “CUBS NZ has been that voice and we have now formalised the working group with a Board and Secretariat.”

“We have some major items on the agenda such as the Deposit Takers Bill currently at draft exposure stage and the Conduct of Institutions Bill. We need to ensure that the smaller entities, who play such a crucial part in our communities, do not suffer a disservice by these proposed changes,” he commented. “We give our individual philosophies of “people helping people” and financial inclusion greater impetus by working together.”

About CUBS NZ

CUBS NZ is the representative body of the co-operative not-for-profit financial services sector whose members own c$2b in Assets and serve over 100,000 member/customers. Member organisations of CUBS NZ are represented in every region of the country. They are democratically owned and run to provide a wide range of banking and financial services, from debit cards to mortgages, to everyday Kiwis including some of the more vulnerable and least served communities. Any surpluses generated by these businesses goes back to the member/owners of the individual CUBS in the form of higher interest rates on savings, lower rates on loans and other benefits. This makes CUBS NZ a powerful voice for a sector that covers a wide demographic of incomes and ethnicities with a high penetration in regional economies.

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