Co-Operative Societies Act 2008

21. Liquidity

1.      For the purposes of this Regulation-

“liabilities” include any deposits of money made in the credit union, any accrued interest on those deposits and any loans taken out by the credit union;

“line of credit” means the maximum amount which a credit union is entitled to borrow at any given time;

“liquid assets” means Eastern Caribbean currency and deposits of Eastern Caribbean currency made by a credit union with a bank or any other institution that takes deposits, and such other currency or currency deposits and that the credit union is entitled to withdraw on demand as well as readily marketable securities;

“marketable securities” includes treasury bills, government debentures, treasury notes and other similar government securities listed on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange;

“secondary society” means a registered society which comprises mainly primary societies; and

“tertiary society” means a registered society all of whose members are secondary societies.

2.      A credit union shall at all times-

a.      have in its possession liquid assets; and/or

b.     maintain a line of credit, in an amount sufficient to enable the society to meet its normal cash flow requirements as estimated by the society.

3.      A credit union shall at all times maintain an account or accounts-

a.      with a bank or banks;

b.     with a loan or trust company or companies incorporated under the relevant Act; or

c.      with a secondary society or tertiary society whose by-laws provide for the acceptance of deposits, if the deposits can be repaid on demand.

4.      The account referred to in paragraph (3) shall be-

a.      in an amount that is not less than 10 per cent of the total liabilities of the registered society as shown on the society’s most recent financial statement prepared and submitted in accordance with Regulation 10; and

b.     in the form of demand deposits or deposits redeemable on notice given by the society.

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5.      A credit union shall maintain the account referred to in paragraph 3, separate from its other accounts or funds.

6.      Notwithstanding paragraph (4)(b) and subject to paragraph (7), where a credit union-

a.      was registered under the former Act, as that Act existed on the day before the coming into force of these Regulations; and

b.     maintained at the commencement of the Act, a reserve; the monies, maintained at the commencement of the Act, in the reserve referred to in paragraph (4)(b) may be used to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (4)(a) .

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7.      Where-

a.      a credit union described in paragraph (6) does not otherwise have sufficient monies on account to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (4)(a) ; and

b.     any part of the reserve referred to in paragraph (6) consists of unencumbered securities of the Government of , those securities shall mature within 5 years of the coming into force of these Regulations in order to be eligible to be used to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (4)(a) .

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8.      Where securities will mature after 5 years of the coming into force of these Regulations, the credit union shall, as soon as practicable after the coming into force of these Regulations, sell those securities and use the proceeds of the disposition to purchase deposits in accordance with the requirements of section (3).

9.      Within 6 months of the coming into force of these Regulations, a credit union shall maintain at least 50 percent of the amount required by paragraph (4)(a) in liquid assets if it does not already do so.

10.   Subject to section 119(3) of the Act, where a credit union does not have in its possession liquid assets, does not maintain a line of credit or does not do both of those things in an amount sufficient to enable the credit union to meet its normal cash flow requirements as required by paragraph (2), the credit union may use the amount in its account required to be maintained by paragraphs (3) and (4) to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (2) but only for the period of one month or such extended period, not to exceed three months, as the Registrar may determine.

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