Five years ago this month, World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) embarked on a very ambitious new goal: to digitalize the global credit union movement.

We called it Challenge 2025, and we vowed to measure the digitalization of credit unions by their use of:

• Digital channels. Offering members core digital transaction services such as online and mobile banking, online payments and online loan processing.
• Shared platforms. Connecting to a shared payments system that allows for mobile payments and integrated with a national payments system.
• Risk management. Implementation of a cybersecurity system that complies with national regulations to protect members' identity and consumer data from digital attacks and intrusions.
• Data analytics. Employing these to determine additional service offerings to members, and helping to identify those that need financial literacy or counseling services.

No matter the size of a credit union or where it is located—we knew its future was dependent on how well it adapted to the disruptive technology that is changing our industry by leaps and bounds each year.

We knew it was critical because young adults communicate, shop, read the news and even apply for jobs on their mobile devices. They want to be able to access their financial services the same way. To attract more young members, credit unions needed to be able to offer them that ability.

Where the expense of digitalization challenges individual credit unions or small credit union systems, we believed credit unions had the advantage of being able to pool their resources and cooperate in building shared platforms to provide consolidated back office processing and payment channels. 

WOCCU tried to do its part by using its World Credit Union Conference, virtual education and learning events, engagement trips and international development projects as vehicles to promote and support the digitalization of the international credit union network. 

So where are we?

Now that 2025 is suddenly upon us, WOCCU is doing the work to measure the digitalization progress of the global credit union movement. What areas are growing faster than others? Where do we still have gaps?

Those are the questions we are trying to get answers to through a short survey we have distributed to credit unions around the globe.

Since WOCCU first distributed its Challenge 2025 Survey in February, credit unions from nearly 20 countries have responded to tell us about their progress. The preliminary results are interesting to say the least. But we need more data.

We are asking more credit unions in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and North America to answer the survey so we can get a truly full picture of where we are and how we might need to pivot to achieve our goal of global digitalization moving forward.  

We know this effort must include those people in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach areas. The challenges of providing them with digital financial inclusion are great. But even there—among the poor, the refugees, the economically excluded—most are like the rest of us in one key respect: they have a smart phone. It shows how connected we all are by technology today and how digitalization is one of our most powerful tools for achieving financial inclusion for all going forward.

Credit union representatives can fill out WOCCU's Challenge 2025 Survey by clicking here.