The £165m question – and three others worth asking at ILCU

The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) Conference is a great moment to step back from day-to-day operations and ask the strategic questions that decide where your credit union will be in five years’ time. Whether you’re looking for fresh ideas to grow your loan book, ways to attract younger members, a stronger evidence base for your credit committee, or faster turnaround without adding risk – we’d love to talk. Find us at Stand 41.

The 75,000 borrowers NI credit unions aren’t reaching

Northern Ireland has one of the highest credit union membership rates in the world. Around 4 in 10 of the population are members of a credit union, compared with 2 in 100 in England. However, the loan-to-assets ratio is the lowest in the UK at 36%. The members are there. The borrowing isn’t.

Our analysis suggests at least 75,000 people in Northern Ireland, every year, can’t currently find suitable credit. If converted at sector-average rates, that’s an additional £165m of lending that could sit on Northern Ireland’s combined loan book each year. A 20% uplift, and a meaningful contribution to the government’s ambition to double the credit union sector by 2030.

Read more: How NI credit unions could unlock £165m in additional lending

The six-year age gap with Great Britain

The average age of a credit union loan applicant in Northern Ireland is 44. In Great Britain, it’s 38. But demographics don’t explain the gap because the median age of the population is almost identical.

Credit scores reward older borrowers with longer histories. Slower turnaround times deter younger borrowers used to instant decisions. And the product mix in many credit unions doesn’t always reflect the life stages of people in their twenties and thirties, for example starting study, getting on the housing ladder and debt consolidation. The credit unions closing the gap are adjusting on each of these fronts, and none of it requires an overhaul.

Read more: How NI credit unions can win younger members

Proving the credit committee with a strategic view

The credit committee is something banks have never managed to replicate – a group of volunteers who know their community and believe every application deserves a fair hearing. That’s an asset worth protecting.

And it’s also an asset worth building on. With aggregated data in front of them, credit committees can move beyond reviewing individual applications and start asking the wider questions: Are we growing? Where? Is the balance of risk across the loan book where we want it? The PRA’s SS2/23 supervisory statement points in exactly this direction. Boards focused on strategy and portfolio risk rather than operational detail. Data sharpens the committee’s instincts; it doesn’t replace them.

Read more: Strengthening the Credit Committee

Lending faster – without losing control

Northern Ireland credit unions using NestEgg are now reporting average loan turnaround of 14 hours, accept rates above 80%, and loan book growth of over 21% in 12 months all while maintaining delinquency rates typically between 1 and 2%.

That’s not the result of a single product. It’s three working together: a Decision Engine that combines Open Banking, credit data, and your own underwriting rules to handle straightforward cases in minutes; Loan Matching, which reaches borrowers who don’t yet know a credit union loan is open to them; and a Broker Platform that brings responsible applicants turned away by banks to credit unions before they turn to high-cost lenders.

Read more: How NestEgg supports Northern Ireland credit unions

Come and find us: Stand 41

Whether you’re already lending faster and want to understand portfolio risk more deeply, thinking about how to attract younger members, or weighing up where the next phase of growth comes from, drop by Stand 41. We’d love to hear what you’re working on.