Owing to the scale of the issues and concerns identified within individual credit unions, approximately half of all credit unions are now subject to some form of lending restrictions.
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I would emphasise again, that less than 10 per cent of all credit unions have a restriction which limits the total amount of lending within the month. This means that the vast majority of credit unions are not restricted in how much they lend in aggregate for month. And for those with an individual loan size restriction, the level at which the limit is imposed ensures that the vast majority of those credit unions can continue to make loans significantly more than the average loan for the sector of just above €6,000. In fact, only about a dozen individual credit unions have lending restrictions which limit the amount loaned to less than €10,000 per loan. The vast bulk of restrictions limit credit unions to lend amounts of between €10,000 and €30,000. This is evidence, in my view, that we have carefully calibrated our use of this regulatory tool to mitigate risk but recognising the core business of credit unions to lend to their members. In effect, it means that credit unions should still be able to meet the need of the vast majority of their members including if those members need small sums for emergency situations.
