Ladies and Gentlemen, I must indicate that the Draft Credit Union Bill recognizes the cooperative principles, democratic structure, service to members and social goals of credit unions. In developing the legislation, the Central Bank considered it important that many of the current services and practices of credit unions be maintained.
However, we also considered it absolutely necessary that relevant and appropriate prudential limits be put in place and enhancements made for more effective governance. In these two areas of governance and prudential limits, we did not accept several suggestions made by the sector, as they were not consistent with the desired safety and soundness objectives of the credit union legislation.