Chair’s AGM Report 2024

Good evening and welcome to this year’s Annual General Meeting. I’m Steve Cartwright. It is my privilege to address you today at our 2024 Annual General Meeting. As Chair of the Board, I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the past year and share our vision for the future with you. Before I continue, please note that all questions beyond this point can be added to the chat, and if we unable to answer your question directly tonight, we will seek to provide you with a response by tomorrow.

First and foremost, I want to express my sincere gratitude to each one of you for your support and dedication to this credit union. Your recognition and commitment to the principles of community collaboration upon which we are founded has remained steadfast through some difficult years for all of us, and for that, we are profoundly grateful.

I am proud to say that we continue our commitment to supporting our members through tough times under the leadership of our CEO, Tameka Spencer. Now approaching one year in her role, she has brought a fresh perspective, determination, and hard work to this role. Her deep understanding of this credit union and the lived experiences of our members continues to be one of our greatest strengths as a vital, community focused organisation.

As highlighted at last year’s AGM, we still find ourselves operating with the challenging conditions of an ongoing cost of living crisis that continues to be felt acutely by so many in our community. This is a journey of both trials and triumphs, and it has been necessary to write off more of our debts owed that have proven impossible to recover. Such actions are sometimes necessary for a business such as ours and we will continue to balance prudent financial management and improved credit control, but always with an understanding that we are here to support our community when they need us. You will hear more about this from our External Auditor David Adams of Lindley Adams shortly.

However, at a time when many Credit Unions have failed, we have seen our membership grow and through the good stewardship demonstrated by our CEO and the rest of the Credit Union team, we are optimistic about the potential of this important community organisation.

This optimism can be underlined by the continued work of the team to reach out and collaborate with other key local businesses. In February, we were pleased to announce that AF Blakemore and Sons Ltd, one of the largest and most forward-thinking family-owned businesses in the UK, joined us as a payroll partner. Working alongside key local businesses who share our principles such as AF Blakemore and Sons is a key part of our vision to grow this business and we will be working hard to partner with more local businesses in the following year.

More reason for this optimism can be found in the good work that the team have undertaken to support our compliance with the new Consumer Duty Act. This important piece of legislation introduces a new set of rules and guidance aimed at setting higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and ensuring customers' needs are put first. With the welcome guidance of one of our Directors, Nicola Mumford; Tameka and the team have worked hard to ensure that these requirements are met, and we can be confident in our efforts to offer the best possible services for our members.

Finally, the organisation’s move to the offices of the Civic Centre in Wolverhampton last October, has helped to provide a better environment for our customers and for the Credit Union team. The move also reflects the prudent management of the business’ outgoings with significantly reduced rent and utility costs when compared to previous arrangements at Worcester Street.

Tameka and the team have also sought to bring down the costs of some of our recurring invoices through good contract management and robust negotiations with our suppliers, underpinning a commitment that every penny of operating revenue needs to be spent effectively and efficiently.

As you know, our Directors provide oversight and strategic direction to ensure that the Credit Union operates in an efficient and effective manner. As such, we have met all of the requirements set out in PRA Guidance in the PRA Handbook as to depositor protection under FSCS rules and maintained an adequate fidelity insurance policy covering fraud by officers or employees. This is an imperative function for our organisation so I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of our Board of Directors. Comprised of experienced professionals from various fields who provide their time and input on a voluntary basis, our board is committed to ensuring that our credit union continues to thrive. Their expertise and dedication will continue to be instrumental in charting the course for our future successes.

Specifically, I would like to note the arrival of our newest Directors, Samantha Ward and Keith Waitt. Both have had long and successful careers in high profile financial service institutions and are here to help the Credit Union in its ongoing journey. As chair of the Board, I am deeply grateful that Sam and Keith have so generously dedicated their time and experience to support us, and I would again like to welcome them to our Credit Union family.

In closing, I will again highlight that at the core of any credit union is our community. You, the members, are the lifeblood of our organisation, and your continued support is what will fuel our success. For our part, we remain steadfast in our vision to grow the business by reaching more members through targeted community engagement, partnering with key local businesses and continuing to offer of fair, ethical and inclusive banking services to all members of our community.