Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Coopeuch (hereinafter “Coopeuch” or “the Cooperative”) is a cooperative incorporated by a public deed dated 31 October 1967 as a savings and credit cooperative with indefinite duration, variable capital and an unlimited number of members. Coopeuch was originally created by 65 employees of University of Chile with the purpose of granting credits to its members and helping them to manage their savings. During 1980s, Coopeuch began expanding their operations by migrating to an open membership model, since then, the Cooperative has experienced continuous growth in terms of the number of members , country-wide branches opened and operations.
Coopeuch’s purpose is to contribute to the development and progress of its members and family group, clients and the community in which they operate, thus contributing to society and the country by promoting the delivery of financial products and services in an inclusive manner. Its mission is to provide responsible financial products and services for the progress of members and clients throughout their life cycle, delivering benefits, advice and financial education in an environment that highlight’s Coopeuch’s values: integrity and respect, transparency, cooperation, personal and professional advancement, efficiency, innovation and, service’s excellence.
Currently, Coopeuch is a financial institution regulated by the Financial Market Commission (CMF), Central Bank of Chile (BCCh) and the Division of Associativity and Cooperatives, (DAES) of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism.
Coopeuch’s vision is to lead and promote the development of the cooperative model, being a sustainable cooperative company that reaches a relevant participation in the competing markets, supporting the development of its members, their families and customers. Since 1996, Coopeuch is a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), when it takes an active role by ascribing and complying with the principles and values of the cooperative model. The seven cooperative principles are:
- Open and voluntary membership, for all people without discrimination
- Democratic control of members (one member, one vote)
- Economic participation of members with equitable contribution and democratic control of capital
- Autonomy and independence
- Education, training and information for its members, collaborators and directors
- Cooperation among cooperatives to strengthen the cooperative movement
- Commitment with the community through sustainable development
As a Financial Institution Cooperative, Coopeuch performs transactions permitted by general cooperative law and regulations applicable to Savings and Loans Cooperatives in conjunction with its members and other third parties. The Cooperative offers a range of financial services including:
- Sight Accounts
- Credit Cards
- “>Dale” Prepaid Cards
- Consumer Loans
- Mortgage Loans
- Savings Accounts
- Term Deposits
- Insurance Brokerage Services
Coopeuch can grant credits and offer demand deposits only to its member-shareholders (1,092,334 members as of 31 December 2022). However, the Cooperative can offer time and savings accounts to non-members. As of 8 November 2021, cooperatives supervised by the CMF are also permitted to carry out additional operations, which allow them to have non-members’ loans in their credit portfolios only if those loans were acquired from other financial institution.
In addition, Coopeuch’s capital increases every month due to the contributions made by its members. This allows the Issuer to maintain a high ratio of regulatory capital (which consists of 100% core equity tier 1 capital due to the Issuer’s business model) to risk-weighted assets net of required provisions, which was 37.9% as of 31 December 2022. This value is well above the banking system average for Chile according to CMF data.
Cooperatives are empowered by law in Chile to make deductions from their members’ payroll in order to secure the repayment in instalments of consumer loans granted, as well as the payment of their participation quotas or for saving purposes. As a result, Coopeuch has agreements with different companies in the public and private sectors, whose employees have access to the Cooperative’s financial products, thereby providing financial inclusion for people who would otherwise not have access to such products due to limited access to the financial system for individuals in the middle-low and low income segments. As of 31 December 2022, there were more than 4,000 agreements with employers and the 88% of the members that correspond to these agreements were public sector employees.
In 1997, Coopeuch started offering savings accounts and in 1998 the Cooperative obtained the authorization of the Ministry of Housing to operate savings account for housing subsidies’ purposes as required by such Ministry.
Coopeuch has a total of 80 branches across Chile (as of 31 December 2022) of which 65 were located outside of the Santiago Metropolitan Region. In addition, in 2017, the Cooperative began to service its customers through offices within the companies with which it has agreements. Coopeuch also grants access to its customers to make i) repayments of instalments, ii) monthly payments for the subscription of participation quotas, and iii) deposits to their savings accounts, through automatic charges in their current account held in a commercial bank.
As of December 2022, Coopeuch is Chile’s leading savings and credit cooperative by assets, representing 87% of total assets, and 86% of total gross loans, of the savings and credit cooperatives supervised by the CMF, and the second largest savings and credit cooperative in Latin America by total assets. In Chile, Coopeuch has a market share in the instalment consumer loans of 7% and, based on management’s estimations, is the financial institution with the second highest number of savings accounts in Chile with 987,961 accounts.
Approach to Sustainability
As an integral part of its strategic plan, Coopeuch formalized its ESG strategy with six objectives, which have as a reference framework the 10 sustainable development goals (SDGs), consolidating the Cooperative’s strategic, social, and business vision.
- To be recognized as a benchmark in sustainability
- Position itself as a benchmark for collaboration and linkage with other actors in the contribution to sustainable development.
- Increase the well-being of employees through sustainability practices
- Expand benefits and financial products oriented to the well-being of members/customers, aligned with sustainable development
- Manage issues in the sustainability of the supply chain
- To be a carbon neutral and resilient company to climate change
With the above in mind, Coopeuch has constantly improving its governance in recent years having strengthened the member’s representation through the delegate’s meeting by increasing the number of delegates. Coopeuch’s bylaws have been improved to raise requirements to become a Director and widen the stability of the Board. Regulatory reporting has increased in number and frequency; relevant information is published in Coopeuch’s Investor Relations web site. New committees have been put in place to address issues related to ESG, ALM and accounting.
In June 2022, Coopeuch formalized a voluntary adhesion with the United Nations Global Compact, the largest business network in the world that promotes sustainability from various areas. In Chile, as of 2022, more than 100 companies have joined the network, assuming the serious challenge of integrating the dimensions of Sustainability from their strategy, through the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 10 Principles of the Global Compact.
The Cooperative promotes varied social, educational and solidarity programs for the benefit of both its members and the community in general. Such initiatives are rooted to the cooperative principles that the Cooperative embraced more than 40 years ago. Coopeuch’s values include cooperation, solidarity and teamwork and aim to inspire the Cooperative’s employees in their various fields of work.