Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators Act 2012

Investments.

12.— The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for section 43:

“43.— (1) A credit union shall manage its investments to ensure that those investments do not (taking account of the nature, scale, complexity and risk profile of the credit union) involve undue risk to members’ savings and, for that purpose, before making an investment a credit union shall assess the potential impact on the credit union, including the impact on the liquidity and financial position of the credit union.

(2) A credit union may invest any of its funds, which are surplus to its operating requirements and are not immediately required for the purposes of the credit union, in any one or more of the following:

(a) the shares of, or deposits with (other than deposits to which subsection (6) relates) or loans to, another credit union as the Bank may prescribe;

(b) the shares of a society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1893 to 1978 as the Bank may prescribe;

(c) such other investments as may be prescribed for that purpose by the Bank under subsection (3).

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(c) the Bank may prescribe investments in which a credit union may invest its funds. In prescribing matters for the purposes of subsection (2) and having regard to the need to avoid undue risk to members’ savings, the Bank may also prescribe other matters in relation to prescribed investments, including any of the following:

(a) the classes of investments, including, where appropriate, any investment project of a public nature the credit union may invest in;

(b) the quality of investments and quality of counterparties that the credit union may invest in;

(c) the maximum, including percentage, amount (by reference to a credit union’s surplus funds to which subsection (2) relates or otherwise) of a class of investments that may be invested in;

(d) the term to maturity of a class of investments;

(e) the currency of a class of investments;

(f) limits for investment, whether by reference to maturity, currency, counterparty, sector, instrument or otherwise;

(g) any other matters that the Bank may consider necessary in the circumstances.

(4) The Bank may prescribe matters for the purposes of any distribution policy to be applied by a credit union in respect of investment income.

(5) In prescribing matters for the purposes of this section, the Bank shall have regard to the need to ensure that the requirements imposed by the regulations made by it are effective and proportionate having regard to the nature, scale and complexity of credit unions, or the category or categories of credit unions, to which the regulations will apply.

(6) In so far as any funds of a credit union that are surplus to its operating requirements—

(a) are not immediately required for the purposes of the credit union,

(b) are not invested in accordance with subsection (2), or

(c) are not kept in cash in the custody of officers of the credit union,

those funds shall be kept by the credit union on current account with a credit institution.

(7) Where any funds of a credit union are on current account with, or on loan to, an institution which ceases to be a credit institution, the credit union shall take all practicable steps to call in and realise the loan within the period of 3 months from the time when the institution so ceased or, if that is not possible, as soon after the end of that period as possible.”.