Abstract
Credit unions are mutual or cooperative financial institutions owned by members,
who are also their customers, depositors and borrowers. Governance of mutuals
is based on the democratic principle of ‘one member one vote’, and directors are
drawn from and elected by the membership. This paper examines how regulatory
governance standards have shaped the governance practices of Australian credit
unions. While credit unions have a very different ethos from that of publicly-traded
institutions, they face similar governance challenges, particularly in terms of the need to ensure board competence and effective control over management.
who are also their customers, depositors and borrowers. Governance of mutuals
is based on the democratic principle of ‘one member one vote’, and directors are
drawn from and elected by the membership. This paper examines how regulatory
governance standards have shaped the governance practices of Australian credit
unions. While credit unions have a very different ethos from that of publicly-traded
institutions, they face similar governance challenges, particularly in terms of the need to ensure board competence and effective control over management.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 21-26 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | JASSA: The Finsia Journal of Applied Finance |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |