Dear Member,
The Board of Directors of St. Colman’s (Claremorris) Credit Union Limited have decided following much deliberation, to introduce a cap on savings in the amount of €55,000 per account, effective from 8th November 2018.
The cap will not affect the current level of savings held but will mean no further savings can be taken from members who hold savings in excess of €55,000 after 8th November 2018. Members with less than the proposed savings cap can simply continue to save as normal.
Savings at this credit union and indeed across the wider credit union sector have been growing at a phenomenal rate and particularly since the economic recovery which commenced in 2014/2015.
The Regulatory cost of reserves which need to be held against these savings in addition to the cost credit unions encounter when insuring member savings, are multiples of the income which can be earned from these surplus funds, given the super-low interest rate environment which currently persists.
We sincerely apologise to our members for any inconvenience caused and pledge to continually keep the matter under review. The costs associated with the ever increasing savings levels have the potential to undermine the very robust capital reserve levels held on the credit union’s balance sheet.
Therefore, this decision by the credit union’s board is a considered and prudent measure to enable the strong reserves position to be maintained for the overall benefit of almost 20,000 members.
Finally, we remind all members that savings to a maximum of €100,000 per person and per institution are fully protected by the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS).