Operation Essay

Southern Fire-fighters, New Zealand Railways, Speights Brewery, Otago Hospital Board, and Cadburys. They limited membership to employees and their families in each case. In 1986, due to growth, the (renamed) Fletcher Challenge Employees (Otago) and the Southern Fire-fighters Credit Unions co-operated in the sharing of office facilities. They purchased a site on a main thoroughfare in Dunedin, just down from the central business district, and erected a modern single story office with street frontage, and provided service to members on a full time basis. Methods for financial transactions varied from manual to different types of computer operated systems. The mid to late 1980s saw great change in the New Zealand economy and society, with the introduction of (new right) `Rogernomics’ policies. The Labour Government deregulated the financial services sector, resulting in the entrance and proliferation of foreign owned banks, and other types of financial service providers, and conversion of building societies to banks, many of them seeking a share of the basic business of credit union, viz personal loans, with a consequential significant increase in competition. However, the banks introduction of sophisticated technological services, in the shape of ATM, and Eftpos, made rural banking relatively expensive, resulting in branch closures. In addition the then Labour Government sold the old Postbank to the ANZ bank. Unemployment increased significantly in the country, and compounded the rural problem, as organisations downsized in a massive way, particularly in the public sector. Questions for Discussion 1. Suggest a possible strategy(s) for the survival of the credit unions in Otago. Phase Two: (1987-95) Otago, in order to take advantage of economies of scale, and thus compete more favourably in the market place. The industrial credit unions had flourished over the period, but the directors realised that their individual sites once saturated, provided little potential for membership growth, particularly in the face of major downsizing. At this point the Railways and Speights credit unions had merged with Fletcher Challenge Employees Each credit union received sufficient support from their respective memberships for amalgamation. The regulator for the credit union industry, the Registrar for Friendly Societies and Credit Unions (Registrar), approved the merger, such that the newly named Credit Union Otago (CUO) opened for business in November 1987 at its Dunedin premises, and functioned with four full time professional staff working a fiveday week. Becoming a community based credit union meant opening up membership to anyone resident in Otago, which has a population of about one hundred and forty thousand. As the first region in New Zealand to undergo this process, Otago provided the model for others to follow.