CU Futures

In March this year, FAIRshare Finance Assistant, Matthew Butler, was one of only 15 young people in the UK to be accepted onto the CU Futures programme.

CU Futures is the innovative programme run in partnership by ABCUL and the Credit Union Foundation and sponsored by Citi Foundation to support and develop young people across the British credit union movement. As well as receiving an industry standard qualification accredited by the London Institute of Banking and Finance, Matthew will participate in a number of high profile initiatives.  These include the International Credit Union Day celebration at Westminster, ABCUL’s Policy Summit, and the Pacific Institute’s High Performance Culture programme.

We caught up with Matthew this week, for an update on his CU Futures experience to date.

Why did you apply to CU Futures?

CU Futures is a great concept and one I was really keen to be a part of.  I believe credit unions are massively undervalued in this country and would like to help to change that misconception.  The more I learn about the credit union sector, the more I appreciate how much I have to learn.

CU Futures will hopefully increase my knowledge base and develop my understanding of areas in which I have little experience. I hope I’ll be able to give more back to FAIRshare, its staff, its volunteers and its members in return for the opportunity I have received.

What have you done so far?

In March I attended the launch of CU Futures 2017/18.  We spent two days in Manchester getting to know each other, learning more about the year-long programme, and hearing presentations from senior members of the ABCUL staff team.

In June we met in Warrington and completed a training session on leadership in high performance culture.  We also met the ABCUL Board and it was very interesting hearing their thoughts on the future of the credit movement and the challenges faced.

I’ve also been looking at new training tools and resources available to credit unions including Insight and the ABCUL Academy.

What’s coming up?

Next month is looking busy.  I’m attending a West Midland Forum meeting in Birmingham, visiting another credit union, hopefully in Glasgow, and going to Citi Bank in Canary Wharf.

What are looking forward to?

I’m really looking forward to a trip to Parliament to participate in the International Credit Union Day celebration at Westminster in October.

Upon successful completion of the programme, Matthew, and the other CU Futures students will graduate in March 2018 at the annual ABCUL Conference.

Good luck Matthew!