The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

More than two-thirds of the cheques representing outstanding funds owed to hundreds of the One Eleuthera Cooperative Credit Union’s (OECCUL) members were signed over the weekend, its liquidator confirmed yesterday.

Errol McPhee, also the OECCUL’s former chairman, told Tribune Business more than 600 cheques were signed for members and he is “happy” this process will end soon. “You don’t know what it’s like to have 780 people calling you every day for their money. It’s very stressful,” he added.

The OECCUL was ordered to close in December 2022 and wind-up its affairs, leaving 780 members without access to their funds. It went into liquidation under The Bahamas Cooperative League (BCLL) shortly afterwards, and is now ready to repay its members what they are due. “Last Saturday gone, me and the secretary was in the church signing cheques. All of the cheques that was outstanding in Eleuthera, over 600 of them, we dealt with,” said Mr McPhee.

Stephanie Missick-Jones, the BCLL’s general manager, confirmed to Tribune Business she was in the process of signing-off cheques yesterday and members should be receiving word from the BCLL shortly. She said: “We are in the process now. It’s ironic that you are calling now because just last week we were there putting together cheques, and we are continuing with that, so in a few weeks it will be done.”

Ms Missick-Jones added that they are preparing for an AGM (annual general meeting), which may delay the process, but, “the cheques are pretty much all signed with a few exceptions”.

The OECCUL was forced to close because the Central Bank of The Bahamas, its regulator, said that it was not meeting the legal liquidity requirements. Mr McPhee acknowledged this with great sadness, and said: “They didn’t give us a chance to grow. I’m a part of the Teachers & Salaried Workers Credit Union, and I grew with that as a former teacher. It took us very long to get to a level. Every credit union needs about 15 to 20 years to get solid.

“They didn’t want to see us successful. We didn’t loan any monies out. All of the money we had out was to our members, and we got very few delinquents and people were paying it back. Even though the credit union closed, people were coming in every Saturday and paying off their loans. I think it is a sad thing, a very sad thing.”

The OECCUL’s liquidation process was relatively smooth as some corporate winding-ups can take several years to completedepending on the complexity of the matter. Sums due to the OECCUL’s members totalled slightly over $1m, Mr McPhee said, as they “were not risky” with money. “When people want their money, they want their money, and they need it. We weren’t using their money; we were allowing them to get their money to do what they needed to do,” he added.