The Ulster Federations success story

The success of the Ulster Federation of Credit Unions (UFCU) clearly demonstrates the enterprise and industry of the Ulster people. A member of the worldwide credit union family, the seeds of the UFCU were sown in 1986. At that time concerned community leaders in South Belfast were conscious of the need to encourage the formation of community enterprises that would help and support the people in their areas.

At that time concerned community leaders in South Belfast were conscious of the need to encourage the formation of community enterprises that would help and support the people in their areas. They believed that an excellent way to bring benefits to the people was for the communities to organise their own credit unions. Up until then although there were well-established credit unions operating in Northern Ireland, there were still huge areas in which these credit unions were either unwilling or unable to develop their organisation.

As little or nothing was known about how to start up let alone run credit unions, it soon became apparent that there were a number of major obstacles to be overcome before there was a credit union movement that would have a distinct Ulster British identity.

The National Federation of Credit Unions (NFCU), whose headquarters were then in Bradford, were contacted with a request to organise in Northern Ireland. The Main Board of the NFCU were split down the middle on deciding for and against promoting their federation in Northern Ireland. On the casting vote of the chairman the NFCU agreed to take Northern Ireland on board.

The difficulties, however, were only beginning. As there were no NFCU field officers on the spot enthusiasts had to travel across to Bradford on a regular basis, initially at their own expense, to acquire the knowledge on how to commence and manage credit unions.

Also since the legislation of credit unions in Northern Ireland is different from the rest of the United Kingdom, it meant that an amended set of rules of the NFCU would have to be produced for Northern Ireland. After gaining the expertise and confidence to develop credit unions, and armed with new model rules the task began of encouraging people to start up credit union study groups.

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