German credit union (volksbank) and co-operative executives laughed and
nodded every time a Canadian co-op or credit union expert told of the
problems faced by those organizations in Canada.
“We have so much in common. Much of the challenges seems to reside in
human nature,” said Paul Gerhard Armbruster, of the German Co-operative
and Raiffeisen Confederation, that country’s association of
co-operatives.
Armbruster, along with nine co-op leaders from Germany and 14
journalists, were touring Canada in mid-September to improve their
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understanding of co-operatives and credit unions in this country. Part
of that tour included Saskatoon and the Canadian Centre for the Study
of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan.
Credit unions in Germany have greater market penetration than in Canada
with 2,248 credit unions, 17,000 branches and 20,000 banking outlets.
Of these, 570 conduct commodity trading and other commercial
activities. They have 14.6 million members.
Canada’s 1,772 credit unions have 3,600 branches and 10 million
members. Quebec and Saskatchewan lead in membership rates with more
than 60 percent of the population signed on as members.
German and Canadian co-operative organizations both face issues of
autonomy and economies of scale as private businesses centralize and
cut the size of operations to create greater efficiency.
Co-operatives, despite willingness to work together on local levels,
have an aversion to centralized decision making on larger scales.
George Keter heads the Saskatoon Credit Union, one of the 20 largest in
Canada.
“By their very nature, people involved in credit unions tend not to
want others from the outside telling them what to do. They want to work
together but they want to be apart when they do it and they each want
to maintain their local service,” he said.
That irony has historic roots both in Germany and in Western Canada,
said Brett Fairbairn, director of the Centre for the Study of
Co-operatives.
“Farmers to this day are independent in nature. They see the need to
work together only to a point. It is a contradiction in terms, but this
independence is what built many of these co-operative structures and
the thinking hasn’t changed,” he said.
Armbruster said while German credit unions are more centralized,
central marketing and co-operation can be an obstacle.
“It can be tough to take advantages of economies of scale for this
reason. In our strength is our weakness,” he said.
The German delegation also expressed disapproval of American subsidies
and said like Canada, they too are trying to assess the impact that
products from the rapidly growing farm production areas in the former
Soviet Union and Brazil may have on their agricultural industries in
the future.
