Last week, representatives from Panama visited Des Moines to see firsthand how technology and other practices in place at Iowa credit unions could be used in that country to strengthen its credit union system.

The trip was the Panamanians’ first visit to Iowa as part of a “People to People Partnership” between the Iowa Council of Credit Unions and COFEP, Panama’s credit union trade organization. The partnership was organized last year by the World Council of Credit Unions and is one of 20 examples of a U.S. state working with a developing country to advance the international credit union movement.

Last August, a group of Iowans and a representative from the World Council of Credit Unions traveled to Panama to learn more about how credit unions operate there. One of the biggest goals of Panama’s COFEP is to develop a more structured regulatory system for its credit unions. According to Jacinto Villarreal, the organization’s CEO, credit unions in Panama do not have their own regulatory system, but are lumped together with cooperatives such as agricultural associations. He would like to see credit unions have their own supervisory arm, similar to how Iowa credit unions are regulated by an industry-specific state agency.

Also, because Panama is known as an international banking center, the country’s government directs significantly more resources to banks than to credit unions, a situation Villarreal would like to see changed. Last Tuesday, the Panamanians visited the state Capitol to meet legislators to learn more about the grassroots and lobbying efforts in Iowa.

“Credit unions have a good image with the public in Panama, but they need more support from government,” Villarreal said. “With this relationship with Iowa, we would like to have a partner to go with us to the government and say this is an example of how a specialized system of regulation works.”

Another area of interest to the Panamanian credit union organization is the technological and educational services Iowa’s credit unions provide to their members. In Panama, some credit unions have now begun offering credit and debit card services. But because credit unions only recently added these services, they rely on banks in order to offer the products.

“(Credit unions) would like to keep all this within the credit union community as opposed to going out and doing those ventures with banks,” Villarreal said. “We need a strong league because large credit unions can or want to offer credit, debit and Internet banking to their members, but the league is not able to do that right now. We are here to get ideas on how we can do that.”

As Panama’s credit unions offer more services totheir members, educating their members on how to use those products responsibly will become more important, Villarreal said. Through the partnership with the ICUL, he hopes to see how Iowa credit unions communicate with their members and handle financial education.

Patrick Jury, vice president of the Iowa Credit Union League, expects the partnership to be mutually beneficial. His organization wants to reach out to more immigrants and underserved populations in Iowa, and he expects to learn how to better serve Latinos through the relationship with the Panamanians. Jury expects the partnership to continue with regular telephone conference calls and annual visits.

“One of our strategic objectives is to be a champion of the credit union brand in our philosophy and structure,” Jury said. “We want to make sure that we help credit unions prosper, both in Iowa and across the world.”