WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG – The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (“CBCS”) hereby announces that it is carrying out a brief intervention for the adoption of the new articles of association and bylaws of Algemene Spaar- en Kredietcoöperatie ACU (ACU). The result will be the introduction of the new governance model chosen by ACU’s General Meeting of Members (in Dutch, “ALV”).
On March 7, 2021, ACU’s General Meeting voted to adopt a more modern governance model in adherence with the cooperative philosophy. Next, ACU established an Amendment Committee (Commissie Statutenwijziging) composed of ACU members. Together with a civil-law notary and cooperative specialists, this committee of members worked on drafting the new articles of association and bylaws, based on the governance model chosen by the ALV.
The duties and powers of the Board and Supervisory Board are clearly described in the new articles of association and bylaws. Previously, that had not been the case, and this lack of clarity has been a source of discord within the institution. The appointment of members to these bodies is also better arranged under the new model. Additionally, the internal control of ACU’s business operations will be further professionalized. All such adjustments are key for a cooperative credit institution to safeguard its members’ funds.
Although the ACU Board had asked the ALV to adopt the new articles of association and bylaws, this did not take place. Despite continual discussions, no progress was made. ACU had been working for years on adjusting its governance model, while the inadequacy of the institution’s governance in view of its current size is something that ACU itself had acknowledged years ago.
The CBCS had been consistently stressing the need for ACU to implement a new governance model that would once again be in compliance with the statutory requirements for financial cooperatives. It is the CBCS’s duty to ensure that such requirements are met. When that is not the case, it may deploy the supervisory instruments at its disposal and that is precisely what this intervention involves. The CBCS expects the new governance model to be in place in a matter of days. Next, it will be up to ACU to implement its new articles of association and bylaws.
To inform the public at large and ACU members in particular, the CBCS will hold a press conference later this week.
