QUEBEC -- Cliff Rosenthal, president/CEO of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions addressed over 150 delegates from five different continents that attended the World Social Finance Summit saying that now is the time to bring the credit union message to Americans.
"The dominant financial system in the U.S. is being questioned in a way it has not been before," Rosenthal said. "The catastrophic losses and widespread economic distress present an unprecedented opportunity to bring the credit union and cooperative message to millions of Americans."
Speakers at the conference discussed a series of interrelated crises: the financial crisis, the energy crisis, the environment crisis, the escalating food crisis and a growing water crisis. The financial system, speakers said, must be transformed from making people a means to produce profit to serving human needs.
Rosenthal made an assessment in his address of three major challenges faced by social and cooperative finance institutions across national lines.
"First, global capital standards designed with large banks in mind are a major threat to the survival of smaller, socially-oriented institutions," Rosenthal said. "A second major threat comes from the increasing crush of regulations, which again have a disproportionate effect on small institutions. Finally, there is the threat of demutualization, or conversion to for-profit status with the loss of mission."
At the end of the conference a declaration was signed by participants that vowed to place human needs first.
--lsiegriest@cutimes.com
