Twelve of the country's biggest credit unions have agreed a new partnership deal with Irish Life, which will significantly expand their services to members.
The 12 credit unions are part of Metamo.
They are expanding the range of financial services available to their 430,000 members by referring them to Irish Life Financial Services, to advise them on their financial wellbeing.
Set up in 2019, Metamo is a joint venture between credit unions and Fexco aimed at helping credit unions grow through the provision of a wider range of services to members, improved risk management and the delivery of enhanced technology.
Metamo currently has a total of 16 credit union members and the new partnership with Irish Life is now in operation across 12 of those.
It is planned to expand the scheme to other Metamo credit unions and it will also be available to credit unions which are not part of the Metamo Group.
The 12 credit unions involved in the new partnership are Access Credit Union, Altura Credit Union, Cara Credit Union, First Choice Credit Union, Killarney Credit Union, Limerick & District Credit Union, People First Credit Union, St Canice's Credit Union, St Francis Credit Union, St Paul’s Garda Credit Union, Synergy Credit Union and Thurles Credit Union.
"Credit unions play an absolutely unique role in bringing financial services into the heart of local communities, and we are hugely excited to announce this partnership with Irish Life Financial Services to expand the range and quality of services our credit unions will offer to their members," Metamo chief executive Alan Kelly said.
"Irish Life's 80-year track record of innovative products, exceptional customer service, and a strong community ethos made them an obvious choice as partner for our credit unions," Mr Kelly added.
The 16 credit unions in Metamo represent more than 550,000 members from across the country and have combined assets of just below €4 billion. This is equivalent to 20% of the asset value of the Irish credit union sector as a whole.
