THE CITY OF BRIDGETOWN (COB) Co-operative Credit Union says it is coping well in a number of areas despite the current economic downturn.
This is according to marketing manager Carol Roberts, who also said there were a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at improving the quality of services offered to its members.
Roberts told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that there was an increase in its membership; however, there was a falloff in the number of persons accessing loans.
“Membership in general has grown . . . . We are coping well because people are still coming to join the COB credit union. We are coping well because we are able to reduce the number of persons who are leaving the COB credit union because of dissatisfaction with service or transfer to other financial institutions.
“We are coping well because we haven’t had to lay off staff.
Sizeable dividend
“We are still able to pay a sizeable dividend and then there has been the increase in salary earlier in the year.
“We are coping well. We have the plan and the vision to put us on track – not only to take us through this economic recession but beyond as well.”
She noted that the financial institution had started a number of programmes to better serve its members. Roberts added that COB was constantly updating its information technology (IT) platform to “better interface with members”.
“We are in the process of introducing new IT solutions to be able to reduce congestion and allow members greater access to their accounts and to us.
“We also, through our subsidiaries, have on sale 32 lots at our new Kirt Gardens, Farmwell Project. The sale of those lots has already started and it has been going reasonably well. And that is just the start of a number of housing solutions that we would offer members very soon.” she said. (MM)
