Athlone Credit Union convenes special general meeting

A motion of no confidence in the board of directors of Athlone Credit Union Limited is to be considered at a special general meeting next week.

Athlone Credit Union last week wrote to members, informing them that it had been requested by a number of members to convene the special general meeting.

The correspondence from the credit union to its own members, signed by its chairman Alan MacNeice, included the request for a special general meeting which it had received.

This included the text of the motion of no confidence, the reasons cited, along with the signatories to the request and their Credit Union identification numbers. 

The Credit Union correspondence also contained a cover letter which outlined the board's response to the reasons cited for the motion of no confidence and its own call for members to vote against the motion.

The request which carried 71 signatories called for a special general meeting to “propose a motion of no confidence in the Board of Directors of Athlone Credit Union Limited for failing to fulfill their functions as laid down in Section 55 of Credit Union Act 1997 (as amended).â€

The document also referred to two other reasons for seeking a special general meeting.

These included “to clarify the nature and extent of the outstanding regulatory issues in Athlone Credit Union Limited which are preventing the holding of the AGM of Athlone Credit Union Limited resulting in non approval and payments of dividends to members and leading to the creation of reputational riskâ€.

And “to raise concerns over the effective governance of Athlone Credit Union Limitedâ€.

Athlone Credit Union, in its correspondence to members, said it would strongly encourage members to attend the meeting and vote against the motion.

It said it was of the view that there was “no reasonable basis for proposing the motion of no confidence†and that it was not in the interests of the Credit Union for it to be passed.

The board of the Credit Union said it had been advised by the Central Bank of “their high level concerns to be resolved prior to convening of an AGMâ€.

The board said it was engaged in a number of actions which it hoped would “result in this situation being resolved†and that it was of the view that they are acting in the “members best interest in this regardsâ€

It added: “The Board are strongly of the view that they have followed established best practice in respect of governance matters and have again put members' best interests first in all mattersâ€.

The special general meeting of the shareholders of Athlone Credit Union Limited will take place in the Radisson Blu Hotel on Tuesday, July 25, at 8pm.