Irish League of Credit Unions welcomes reduction in credit union levies

Posted on: 09 Oct 2020

The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) has today, Friday 9 October, welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Finance of a reduction in two substantial levies paid by credit unions – the Credit Institution Resolution Levy (CIRF) and the Credit Union Stabilisation Levy.  

Today’s announced reductions follow on from extensive lobbying by the ILCU over several years including lobbying intensively in the recent General Election. One of our lobbying aims was to highlight the financial impact these levies are having on not for profit credit unions whose sole function is to serve the financial needs of members in their communities. The ILCU further outlined the impact of these levies in its document ‘The Movement’ published in July and in letters to the Minister for Finance. 

Commenting on today’s announcement ILCU CEO Ed Farrell said, “Last year, the ILCU was successful in achieving a 44% decrease in the CIRF levy on behalf of its member credit unions. The further decrease in the CIRF levy announced today, approximately €250,000, means credit unions will pay €4.4m in 2021, compared to €8.6m they paid in 2019, an overall reduction of €4.2m.”  

“In relation to the Credit Union Stabilisation Levy, today’s announced reduction by the Minister means credit unions will pay €2.7m less in 2021 than they paid in 2020. Instead of having to pay €3m next year, they will only pay €300,000. This is a significant cost saving for credit unions which will go some way to alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on credit union balance sheets. We are delighted that our campaigning for our member credit unions has delivered and we look forward to continuing to work with both Minister Donohoe and Minister Fleming and the Department of Finance on the review of the Policy Framework for Credit Unions announced in the Programme for Government”. 

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