Editor's note: In honor of CU Times' 25th anniversary, weasked credit union trade associations about their journeys since1990. Read more in the July 8, 2015 issue of CU Times.

In 1990, credit unions were in a different place than they aretoday. During the ensuing 25 years, their influence has increased,but their challenges also have escalated. The same holds true fortheir trade associations, especially when viewed from a globalperspective.

World Council of Credit Unions has evolved into more of anadvocacy role over the past 25 years. Unlike its domesticcounterparts, the Madison, Wis.-based trade group advocates on behalf of theglobal credit union movement, helping strengthen the credit unionidea in the minds of policymakers worldwide and promote theinfluence of proper governance for both established and emergingmovements, according to World Council President/CEO BrianBranch.

“In 1990, we were organizing credit unions, but that evolvedover time,” Branch, who joined World Council in 1990, said. “Wewent from developing model credit union methodologies to networkinginstitutions and building national credit union systems.”

World Council also labors to help construct regulatory bodies inemerging countries that understand and see the value credit unionsbring to consumers, Branch explained. Strong regulations, he said,are the best way to help a credit union system grow.

“The absence of regulations has caused too many problems, and wefound credit unions had a better image and grew much faster if theyhad a solid basis of regulations and legislation,” Branchsaid. “We had to work with regulators so they could betterunderstand how credit unions differ from banks.”

World Council also has grown to provide more commentary and analysis to international organizations such asthe Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the InternationalAccounting Standards Board and other bodies whose influence isoften felt by U.S. regulators. That influence feeds into WorldCouncil's ultimate goal, Branch explained.

“We want to see a very strong and compelling understanding ofthe credit union model and its differences,” Branch said. “Therecent economic crisis gave us a huge boost, increasing the trustand perception of credit unions. Consequently, we're seeing rapidgrowth and we're working very hard to satisfy those needs.”