Seychelles Credit Union to pay out R5.5 million in dividend for year 2022 |03 July 2023
Seychelles Credit Union to pay out R5.5 million in dividend for year 2022
The Seychelles Credit Union (SCU) has made available R5.5 million in dividend representing pay out of 5.5% per member for the year 2022.
The payment to start today, follows a net surplus of R12,738,040 made for the year compared to R10,197,158 made in 2021.
The proposed sum to be shared among 19,000 members for that year was approved during the cooperative’s annual general meeting held on Saturday morning at the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) conference room where members were enlightened on its performance for 2022 including on various aspects relating to its development and future.
The approval for a dividend of 5.5% from the net surplus is 0.5% less than that paid (6%) from the surplus of 2021.
The total revenue for 2022 was R42,300,311 and the total expense stood at R29,562,271.
The chief executive of SCU, Annarita Stravens, said although faced with challenges, the cooperative was able make the surplus due to its resilience and efforts by the members of staff including the continued support from the members.
She noted that the small decrease of 0.5% of payout rate in dividend is to ensure investment in SCU’s future growth and modernisation.
She explained that apart from paying out dividends, the surplus also goes towards SCU’s activities and also towards the cooperative’s reserves to secure future payments of dividends, among others.
She noted that given the business model is dependent on loans interests, most of SCU’s revenue (95%) comes from interest from repayment of loans.
Speaking about the future plans to improve the cooperative’s services, Mrs Stravens said that SCU is focusing on the modernisation of its business and offering more digital services to its members that will also serve to attract more young people.
She added that SCU is still working on the forthcoming ATM card service which is due to be released by the end of this year.
She noted that with the introduction of the Internet Banking platform, released early this year, SCU will continue to improve the platform to facilitate members’ transaction virtually.
During the meeting the members also approved for an increase in allowances for the board members (R20,000 to R33,000), the supervisory committee (R8100 to R11,600) and credit committee members (R10,000 to R15,500) totalling to a sum of R60,100 from R38,100, effective for the last ten years.
Taking effect as of April 2023, the increase is to ensure that SCU can attract and retain people with the right qualifications and experience to join the Board and to reflect the increase in responsibility.
There were some concerns by the members regarding the interference of the Seychelles Central Bank (CBS) in the activities of the cooperative, especially with regard to the appointment of board members following a default in 2005 and the chairman, Brian Julie, said that although the set criteria from the regulator (CBS), any ordinary member is eligible to apply to sit on the board given that it is the AGM that will vote on his or her representation on the board.
He noted that apart from looking at qualifications background, which the cooperative does not necessarily rely on, the requirements from CBS is mostly related to due diligence.
He added that voting for new Board members and Supervisory Committee members will take place in November and the exact date will be communicated in due course.
Mr Julie said that the board is very satisfied with the management and functioning of the cooperative in 2022, including going into the first half period of this year, although there is still room for improvement.
