Mr. Kevin Johnson:

That is a nice easy one. When the Senator says that the report of 2012 is largely unimplemented, that is not necessarily accurate. Our concern and frustration is that all the parts of it that related to the governance and prudential rules were implemented. What heightens our frustration is that prior to the commission report credit unions could do more for their members in their community than they can today.

What we are looking for is that quid pro quo. The strength and governance is all in place and credit unions have embraced that. It has not been easy because implementation continues to be challenging and expensive. It heightens the cost of delivering a service to members.

On the other side of it are items such as the full review of lending limits. Instead of that taking place, we got another layer of limits, by category, imposed on us and fewer options on investments. I commend the credit union advisory committee, CUAC, for its honest report and for highlighting the seven areas which were not implemented. It is not a matter of cherry-picking one or two of them. There are a suite of changes that need to take place.

We are all conscious, not just the Central Bank, of protecting members’ savings. It is constantly put to us as if the credit unions were not aware of that. Of course we are aware of it. That is our primary objective. It is all about the prudent and provident use of those savings for the betterment of the whole community. I would not pick one particular recommendation. The CUAC and the implementation group have to get on with dealing with those outstanding issues and ensuring that they are all implemented this time. As I said in the opening statement, it only exists because they were not implemented the first time. That is why we ask the committee to keep credit unions firmly on its agenda. We would love the committee to play a monitoring role to ensure these things happen properly.