Ireland’s CUs in Co-Lending Project

DUBLIN, Ireland–Social enterprise funder Community Finance Ireland (CFI) has announced plans to collaborate with this country’s credit unions on a co-lending project to help enhance lending to charities and sporting groups.

According to the Independent, the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) has facilitated the relationship with CFI to provide an option for credit unions to bolster lending activities to local community organizations.

ILCU CEO David Malone told the publication Ireland’s credit unions currently have €17 million in community loans to more than 500 different community organizations, but that represents just 4% of total credit union lending and the hope is the collaboration will help credit unions diversify further into this space.

‘Vibrant & Thriving Communities’

“The work done by these community organizations such as charities, sporting organizations and voluntary groups at local level is integral to developing vibrant and thriving communities,” Malone told the Independent. “CFI has already been working with a number of credit unions in co-funding appropriate community lending projects. Working with CFI, we will adopt a co-lending approach to assist in spreading the risk for larger loans where it may not have been possible to proceed with on a solo basis, and also leverage CFI’s significant expertise.”

Dónal Traynor, CEO of CFI, told the Independent that engaging with the credit unions underpinned its ambitions to make a social impact across the island of Ireland.

Article Courtesy of CUToday