New members a struggle for credit unions

There has been a great deal of discussion at the Abacus convention held this week on the Gold Coast about membership. Some institutions in the mutual sector have lost members in the last year and many are having extreme difficulty in attracting new members.

Of particular concern is the lack of young people choosing credit unions for their banking business.

Chief executive officer of the Queensland Police Credit Union, Grant Devine, took over the top job at QPCU about 18 months ago and says membership and attracting new members is his top priority. QPCU has recently made some big changes to deposit interest rates in order to attract new younger members.

"We have basically maintained our membership at around the same level as a year ago, but these rate moves and our new sharp term deposit rates are about expanding membership.

"We have about half of the police force as members and a lot of emergency services workers but we are really looking to expand further and get more public servants signed up.

"We think our rates are a lot more attractive than the big four - we have had some fairly good results and we are turning that back into better pricing for members."

Business researcher Phil Ruthven from IBIS World spoke at the Abacus conference and told delegates that mutuals had to be "big or bonded" to survive. Bonded means having access to a captive market, like police and emergency services workers.