Credit union professionals from across Britain met at Barclays Eagle Lab in Manchester for the second event hosted by the Young Professionals Network (YPN) of the Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul).
A total of 40 young professionals attended the meeting, where they heard from experts including Marcela Hashim a credit union supervisor from the Bank of England, who presented the regulator’s key priorities for the sector, and Bernard Cogan from credit union insurer CMutual, who looked at cybersecurity for the sector.
The network was launched at the ABCUL Annual Conference in March with the aim of enabling young professionals in credit unions to connect and exchange experiences.
Chris Kerrigan, marketing and business development officer at the Police Credit Union, spoke about digital marketing techniques for credit unions. “Being able to present and take part in a panel at Abcul’s recent YPN event is what excites me most about the network – the events are set up to get you out of your comfort zone and to become familiar with what it takes to be a credit union leader. I am looking forward to what the network has in store for 2020.”
Also speaking at the conference, business development officer at Commsave Credit Union Caterina Angieri thinks the network is a great opportunity to develop. She said: “The Young Professionals Network events are great for any sector professional to take part in. The committee takes tremendous pride in putting together a variety of sessions, which are both educational and engaging.
“The attendees share an abundance of knowledge and advice and the networking gives you positive exposure to like-minded credit union advocates. Offering a wide range of development and support it’s important to appreciate the significance of what the Young Professionals Network is doing for the future of our industry, and I hope that collectively we can encourage many more of our people to join us.”
Head of member services at Abcul and member of the YPN Steering Committee, Rosanna Donovan, added: “I want to recognise the achievements of our Young Professionals Network Steering Committee who pulled together a diverse and engaging line-up of speakers and topics to bring their vision of a dynamic environment for young credit union professionals to connect, learn and live the sector’s cooperative values to life with their second ever event.
“It was a little more than year ago they first came together to bring the Network to life and to have now had two successful events and is an incredible achievement.
“It would not have been possible without the generosity of the speakers who gave their time and insight on the day and we are dependent on the on-going support of people across the sector to keep making the Network a success. We are immensely grateful to them.
