Sonia Hamilton, president of the board of Bahamas Co-operative League Limited, was elected to the board of directors of the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions at the confederation's 44th annual general meeting on June 23 in Cancun, Mexico. Hamilton will serve as a director of the board for a three-year term.

The confederation also held its 58th annual convention in partnership with the Credit Union Executives Society (CUES) of the United States from June 20-23, 2015 in Cancun, Mexico.

The theme of the convention was "Co-operatives: Celebrating successes and embracing new challenges for sustainable development". The four-day event was officially opened by Ann Cochrane, 1st vice president of the World Council of Credit Unions.

A total of 19 Caribbean countries including the Commonwealth of The Bahamas are members of the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions. The mission of the confederation is to strengthen, unite and promote sustainable development for cooperatives in the Caribbean as a vehicle for socioeconomic development. Over 700 persons attended the CCCU conference. Of that number, there were 59 representatives from the Bahamian credit union movement, representing seven credit unions.

Former Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing of Laing Consulting and Research Group was a presenter at the conference. Laing spoke on the topic "Developing emerging leaders and promoting effectiveness in leadership".

The Bahamian credit union movement has over 40,000 members and assets totaling $350 million.

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