CREDIT Co-operatives Sector

Thrift and loan societies are co-operatives that encourage thrift by accepting deposits from members and assisting members with loans on reasonable terms.

A thrift and loan society is an association of persons who are grappling with the same economic challenges and who join together on a basis of equal rights and obligations through a democratically controlled enterprise.

Majority of the credit co-operatives are work-based where employees of the organisation are recruited as members of the co-operative. As a form of staff benefits, organizations offer check-off system, which enable deductions of staff monthly salaries for contributions towards their subscription accounts and loan repayments with their co-operatives.

Today, credit co-operatives play an important role in upgrading the economic and social status of their members.

Objectives of the Credit Co-operatives
* Prevent permanent indebtedness of its members by enabling them to obtain loans on reasonable terms. Different types of loans are offered to members: personal loan, education loan, housing loan and travel loan;
* Encourage thrift, they offer savings and fixed deposit schemes to members at competitive interest rates
* Assist members to reduce the cost of living and improve their economic needs.

SNCF currently implements a self-regulatory framework for the adoption by the credit co-operatives. The framework is a self-regulating mechanism aimed at improving the practice of risk management and corporate governance among the credit co-operatives. Under the framework, credit co-ops are required to maintain stipulated financial ratios of a minimum of 10% and 6% for the liquidity and capital adequacy respectively.

If you want to set up a co-operative in any of the above sectors, contact SNCF at
Tel: 6259-0077. SNCF will help you:
(a) to draft your co-operative by-laws;
(b) to register your co-operative with the Registry of Co-Operatives Societies
(c) to provide training, networking and other support services.