What is a Credit Union?
It is a financial cooperative deposit-taking institution owned and operated by its members and regulated by an agency of the Ministry of Finance.
Who are its members?
For ICUC, any Muslim will be eligible to become a member.
Are there any other conditions of membership?
Yes, one must also pay a membership fee, which essentially is to own membership shares that grant that person part ownership in the Credit Union. N.B. The membership fees are not required now until approval. Then the regulators will instruct each potential member of the government Trust Lawyers to pay the monies to, which ensures its security. About 3% of non-Muslims who uphold our fundamental principles can also become members.
So what should one do now?
Just fill out the survey as an indication of one’s support. Once we have finished revising the application and have submitted and are approved, in sha Allah, we would update you f the next steps in sha Allah.
SURVEY LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YFTLY6C
Where is the status at the moment?
The first application was submitted in 2017 and we received a response to revise some sections. We are currently doing that (which included some revision of the survey). This is normal with all other credit unions. However, we have also now engaged the expertise of external consultants to help us review it before resubmission to avoid another revision, even though that is perfectly normal with all new credit unions, even those that were interest-bases. But we will be purely Sharee’ah compliant in sha Allah. Please note that the first application was submitted purely from internal/voluntary efforts.
What products and services will be offered?
As is normally approved by the regulators for any new credit union, we’re starting with the basic current, chequing, savings, and term deposits account as well as other basic services like bill payments, wire transfers, debit cards, deposit boxes, short term investments, and as we grow and are issued with the commercial license, we would go into secured/partnership loans, real estate, credit cards, Musharakah, Murabahah, Mudarabah, etc.
What incentive are you offering to investors, like return on capital, amount of annual profit (% fixed or variable)?
Distribution of profits, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, or annual and starting when after initial investment? Dividends would form the basis of profit distributions, then the more the investor invests, there would be an additional return on those investments based on the risks, returns, and the classifications of the investments. The CU would also employ a method of “parallel investments” in order to accelerate the growth of members’ investments which would be used to substantially increase their down payments (the primary purpose), or returned to them at their request.