By J K Nabary
Winneba (C/R), Oct 18, GNA-The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) Co-operative Credit Union has inaugurated its Head office Block at Winneba as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.
The additional banking physical space seeks to provide personalised, efficient, and competitive banking services to its clients.
The Union also undertook some physical office structure beautification at its Senya Bereku Branch and Cape Coast Agency offices to give it a facelift and provide comfort to its cherished members.
Professor Stephen Jobson Mitchual, Vice Chancellor of UEW who was joined by other dignities to unveil a plague, cut a tape and a cake to symbolise the commissioning of the project and the anniversary, applauded the Directors, Management, and the entire staff for their hard work, culminating in the continuous growth of the Union.
He challenged the new board members to use their expertise to improve on what their predecessors established to maintain its position as a large size Co-operative Credit Union and second largest in Central Region Chapter.
The commissioning of the edifice also coincided with the 2023 Annual General Meeting which was held at the forecourt of the Head Office at Winneba.
Prof Jobson Mitchual in his keynote address said he was impressed about the growth of the Union established in November 1994 with membership of 28 and held its maiden AGM in August 1995 with membership shooting up to 137 and total savings of GHC422.00.
He said as of December 31, 2023, its membership had grown to 22,369 with total savings, loans, and assets of GHc63,224,937.28, GHc56,854,352.19 and GHc89, 256, 585. 31, respectively.
He pledged the University’s commitment for continued support in their endeavours and urged members with less than the minimum shares to increase it to gain higher dividends and help the union to maintain its position as large size Credit Union, second largest in the Central Region and the 6th largest out of more than 500 Credit Unions in Ghana in terms of asset size.
Prof. Mitchual challenged the new board members to also use their expertise to improve upon what their predecessors had established.
He charged the management of the union to periodically maintain the edifice to prolong their life span to serve the purposes and also appealed to members to have confidence and continue to do business with them.
Dr Bernard Bingab, outgoing chairman of the Board of Directors, giving the accounts for the year ending, December 2023, mentioned projects executed to include the Winneba Branch (Head Office), the Virtual Branch, banking and conference hall facility, Ultramodern Auditorium, and other facilities.
According to him, the Virtual Branch was to serve members who were staff of the Colleges of Education affiliated to UEW, Akenteng Appiah Minkah University of Skills Training and Development (AAMUSTED), government workers, Businessmen, and women outside the physical locations of the Union’s operational areas.
He stated that they also approved the implementation of Universally Unstructured Supplementary Data (USSD) which would allow the members to cheek their balances, make deposit and withdraw from their withdrawable accounts at their own convenience from their homes and offices.
He stated that UEW Credit Union was a Co-operative organisation, and their focus was not only for profit making but corporate responsibilities.
He said members’ savings increased from GHc45, 327,306.15 in 2022 to GHc63,224,937.28 in 2023, an increase of 39.49 percent which is encouraging despite the economic challenges in 2023 and assured the members that the operation of the Union was safe, solid, and sound of which they must continue to keep their fund.
According to him the net surplus of the Union for 2023 amounted to GHc4,743,807.90 as against GHc3,478,945.62 in 2022, representing an increase of 36.36 percent adding the increase was as a result of granting more loans, increase in non-financial income and investing surplus fund, despite operating expenses going up due to unstable economy during the 2023 financial year.
On investment; he stated that in spite of the frequent withdrawals by some members, the Union made significant stripes in building its investment base after having satisfied members’ loan demand and investment in the Office Extension project.
Mrs Christian Kilson, Chief Executive Officer of the Union, stated that the year under review had been a challenging one due to the micro economic impact of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, inflation and other macroeconomic factors affecting their operations.
He said over the period, the Union sought to enhance its Internet Technology infrastructure hence the introduction of an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data for convenience and operational efficiency for member service delivery.
She thanked the members for their loyalty and continuous support in the operations of the Union.
Later, the new Board, chaired by Mr Charles Coffie and the Supervisory Committee were officially introduced to the members and inaugurated.
GNA