By Frank J. Diekmann
Here are some tchotchkes I grabbed for everyone in the presentbutik (you can sound that out, but it’s the gift shop) on my way out of the 20th World Credit Union conference, hosted by the World Council of Credit Unions in Stockholm.
A Lot of the Green, Yellow Blue & White
Attendees from the United States have long made up the largest delegation of attendees at the World CU Conference. Not this year. Instead, the biggest group picking up name badges were the Brazilians. Brazil is home to two large CU systems, Sicredi and SICOOB, both of which offer a centralized business model and unified branding. The CU Daily’s coverage from the WCUC included several presentations by representatives of the two organization, including this, from Sicredi, which offers a few numbers that would make any U.S. jealous.
For example, Sicredi CUs in 2024 held 43 in-person member meetings at which 16,000 people showed up. It also drew more than 1.4 million viewing members to the meetings it hosted online.
Jag Förstår Inte
Riding a train from Stockholm to Oslo, Norway, there were some signaling issues that led to delays. The engineer made a number of announcements in Swedish that lasted several minutes, offering updates, I assume. He would then say, “Now in English, we do not have any updated information.”
At one point, after an extensive announcement in Swedish, he followed up in English by saying only “Remain calm.”
Later, after another long statement in Swedish (which led to many people getting off the train and securing taxis for the 200-kilometer ride to Oslo), there was an announcement in English that “We don’t have any updates at this point” but also the suggestion we might want to find other transportation.
I’m not saying that earlier announcement might have been “Don’t tell the non-Swedish speakers, but this would be a good time to go grab one of the first cabs,” I’m just sayin’.
If you’ve ever been in one of those situations where you’re in a foreign country and you’re not quite sure what’s happening—I even had to Google where we were—this was it. I finally got a cab with two people returning home to Oslo and we rode along for 2.5 hours as the driver and passengers in the back talked in Norwegian and I sat upfront wondering if the conversation was about what to do with the body of the American riding in the front seat. Once we got to Oslo hours later the driver admitted the train was stopped in his relatively small town quite often—which explained why we didn’t have to call cabs. At around $300 per person for the cab ride, he said the train was being very, very good to him.
‘Members Should Know the Difference You’re Making’
As part of one presentation, during the Global Women’s Leadership Network meeting, which was held one day ahead of the WCUC, an audience member from Australia shared her credit union’s annual report, which she joked was “basically for our employees and my mom; that’s who looks at it.”
But more seriously, she shared how in that annual report the CU highlights its effect on its members and community.
“In a mutual you should know what kind of a difference you are making,” the audience member shared, noting the report shares results of the question posed to employees, “Do you know the difference you make?”
It’s a good question for U.S. CUs to be asking themselves.
Photojournalist Tara Todras-Whitehill, who was the speaker during the session that was held as part of the GWLN event, said of the Australian effort, “Storytelling internally is just as important as storytelling externally.”
Only Game in Town
During one session, in response to a question over why Sicredi continues to invest in branches when the financial world has increasingly become a digital marketplace and at the same time its bank brethren are closing branches (sound familiar?), Sicredi’s president outlined numerous reasons (you can read more here), including the fact that in 200 cities in Brazil, a Sicredi credit union is the only financial institution with a physical presence.
Everybody Has That Other Stuff, But…
Observed by Cesar Bochi, CEO of Sicredi in Brazil, “Products and services don’t change much. It is the journey and the experience that make the difference.” Later, in explaining Sicredi credit unions’ connection with members, he added, “Those who are, take care. And those who take care, stay close.”
Incisor Insight
Confidence Staveley, a Nigerian cybersecurity & Information technology expert (is there a better first name for either a cybersecurity expert or literally, a confidence scammer?) illustrated the elusive nature of cybercriminals and who they claim to be by sharing this African proverb: “No matter how sharp your teeth are, you can’t bite water.”
It is a wonderful proverb. But it also comes from a continent in which many people rarely see ice.
You can read more here.
A Dream Comes True
The World CU Conference was the first opportunity many people had to meet Paul Treinen, the interim CEO of the World Council who stepped in when Elissa McCarter-Laborde exited. He shared this story:
“I’ve been working for the credit union movement for 39 years, including time with the international operations of TruStage. My first exposure to the World Council of Credit Unions came after I started working with TruStage and the World CU Conference was held in my hometown in the United States in Madison, Wisconsin. I volunteered to work at that meeting and I saw that opening flag ceremony that many of you saw yesterday and it was at that time I realized the size of the global credit union movement. At that time I had a dream of maybe someday working for that organization or even possibly someday leading the organization. Well, I can tell you as I stand here today, that dreams do come true.”
You can read more about what he had to say here.
How to Get Younger
Melissa Robinson of the Credit Union League of Connecticut gave a presentation on attracting younger members, and observed that the average age of credit union leaders is reflected in the membership, stating, “If you want young members you have to have young leaders.”
There’s More to It and That’s a Fax
Robinson would go on to joke (I think) that, “There is wisdom with experience, but let’s be honest, no one needs to know how to unclog the fax machine.”
Hold on just a minute, which is about how long it takes to receive a single page fax. Let me just clarify that there are a lot more intellectual demands involved with fax machines than just knowing how to unclog them. There’s also knowledge required around how to use a dial-up phone, how to stay focused while one of the most annoying office noises ever created is screeching away, plus the critical experience needed in knowing how to plug a landline into the wall. Now that’s wisdom.
Not Feeling The Sverige
This was the first time the World CU Conference ever visited Sweden and the city known as the Venice of the North, but to be honest, it didn’t feel particularly Swedish. Yes, there was the perfunctory introductory entertainment that featured a short tribute to ABBA followed by a long day of having Dancing Queen earworming in your head.
But other than the language (and nearly all the convention center, hotel and restaurant and retail workers all spoke English, in many cases better than what you’ll find in the United States), there was little that would otherwise indicate what country you were in. No Volvo rides (or rides in old Saabs). No IKEA challenges at the breaks to see who could assemble an end table the fastest and use all the screws. No personalized Spotify (yes, it’s Swedish) playlists. Not even that many meatballs.
Perhaps that’s because the host country doesn’t have much of a credit union presence. There are credit unions in Sweden, but they are legally structured as “ekonomisk förening” (economic associations) and have a unique structure that allows them to offer financial services to their members without needing a full bank license, according to my two close friends known as A and I.
Missing Field Trip
The World CU Conference always includes some side trips to local attractions, and for this year’s meeting one good option might have been a bus ride over to the offices of Klarna, the Stockholm-based BNPL lender whose growth has skyrocketed, for some insight into how they view the market and what credit unions might be missing.
Getting Click Of It
Mark Meyer, the president of the Filene Research Institute, led an interesting session comparing Michelin-starred restaurants with credit unions (you can read the full story here).
A couple of observations worth highlighting:
In comparing the UX at credit unions with that of Amazon, which has become the consumer expectation, Meyer said, “When we start thinking about experience, if we are accustomed to search, click, click, maybe a third click and then delivery, how does your digital onboarding work? Can they join in less than 3-5 minutes and maybe get a debit card the next day. Or is it click, click, click, click, opt-out, call the call center, and maybe get a debit card in 8-10 days?”
Unpacking a Unique Proposal
Later, Meyer offered this to mull over. Noting the extreme competition in the credit card space, and the fact many attendees (who don’t want to admit it) likely used non-CU payments cards to pay for their trips to Stockholm due to richer travel benefits than their own CUs offer, Meyer asked, Why can’t CUs on a country by country basis all come together on joint travel rewards cards that could likely compete with the best deals out there? Good question. What do you think?
Best Title in Credit Unions
During a presentation by a representative of Singapore’s credit unions, an executive in that country was referenced as the “Secretary of Love Empowered Cooperative.” The Secretary of Love. Probably the best title in CU Land.
Within the Lifetime of Some Attendees
As the CEO of Vancity Credit Union shared, it wasn’t all that long ago that something taken for granted today was revolutionary when it changed.
Wellington Holbrook noted his credit union was the first in Canada to make a loan to a woman without a male co-signer.
“It’s hard to believe it’s only 80 years ago that in a country like Canada, which we like to think of as a fairly progressive country, women couldn’t get access to a loan unless their husband or father or brother or a man co-signed for them,” he said.
A Fun Illustration
To illustrate a point he was making about how there is a dearth of talent for jobs because there is a dearth of people, Eric Termuende put his audience through an exercise. He asked attendees how many had more than two siblings or, if they had children, more than two kids. Very few hands were raised.
He then asked how many had parents or grandparents with more than three siblings. Most hands went up. In fact, many of the hands remained up even as he raised the number to four or seven or even, in a few cases, 10.
Later in his remarks he wryly observed that his research has found people really hate two things: “The first is change and the second is the way things are.”
Going Down Under in 2026
World Council will host the World Credit Union Conference in Sydney, Australia from July 19-22, 2026 at the International Convention Centre Sydney. It will be jointly hosted by the Customer Owned Banking Association.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of the CU Daily and can be reached at [email protected].
