The banking sector went belly up, with a number of foreign players leaving the country and our domestic lenders needing to be bailed out by the State for billions of euro.

Trust in the banking sector was at an all-time low, with many holding them in contempt.

Here was an opportunity for the credit unions to move in for the kill, and offer a real challenge to the banks.

They could have snapped up hundreds of thousands of new members, providing a valuable income stream and ensuring the smaller ones were viable.

It didn’t happen. They scuffed their shot.

Strengths

There are 229 active credit unions in the State, as there have been many mergers and some closures over the last decade. They have a lot going for them.

They invariably come out as the most trusted organisation in Ireland in surveys.

They are seen as a force for good, being member-owned and not-for-profit with a strong volunteer focus and a commitment to give back to their communities.

They have an unrivalled branch network across the State, with many of those 229 credit unions having multiple branches.

The product range they can now offer is far more extensive than in the past, with debit cards, online transactions, farms loans, SME loans, green loans, and mortgages among the new product lines.

Staff in the lenders are generally courteous and helpful.

Reserves are strong, meaning there are not any imminent dangers of financial shocks.

Weaknesses

Savings, at €16.3bn for the sector, are too high relative to loans. Just €5bn is out in loans, according to the registrar or regulator for the sector.

This is against a backdrop of assets of €13bn.

The loan-to-asset ratio is worryingly low at just 27pc, way below where it should be.

Many credit unions are small, with 88 of them having assets of less than €40m.

One of the biggest weakness is a sad tendency of divisions and contentions across the sector.

There are two representative organisations – the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Credit Union Development Association. Is there are need for two representative bodies?

There are also two bodies set up by the movement to provide debit cards, with whacky acronyms – PAYAC and CUSOP.

Why keep reinventing the wheel? Turf wars are a regular event as arguments break out over encroachments into each other’s area of operations, the so-called common bond.

Do members really care about this?

Historic opportunity

Right now a huge opportunity presents itself. Two of our five retail banks are leaving, the largest moneylender is shutting down, and Bank of Ireland is closing a huge number of branches.

Permanent TSB is hoping to sweep up much of Ulster Bank’s customer base, but it may not get its current account book. This could mean some 500,000 current accounts are up for grabs.

Credit unions, with the best value current account in the market, must make a play for these as a way to build scale.

Few want the credit unions to turn into mini banks, but they have to broaden their appeal if they are to survive.

It is all very well that people say they love and respect the credit union, but that is of little use if they are not borrowing from one or using other services.

It is like all those people who decried the closure of department store Clerys, only to admit under questioning that they had not darkened its doors for years.

The regulatory situation and the stance of the Central Bank is what it is. They must accept it and stop harking back to the past when the sector was self regulating.

Some of the things the sector could do to prosper in a digital world include co-operating with each other more, just as they are doing in Cork where the credit unions have linked up to pool resources and increase their marketing reach.

Marketing has to be given more prominence. Credit unions need to stop being meek about their offering and instead start shouting from the rooftops.

Co-operative link-ups would work in other areas too. If a small credit union is not in a position to offer a member a mortgage then why not link up with a larger one and agree to send the member for that product to the bigger player? A revenue-sharing deal can be agreed.

Digital is the future, as a cursory glance at the rapid-fired growth of Revolut here tells us.

Credit unions that have succeeded in growing their loan books are doing it by offering loans online. They are exploiting social media to get the message out that they have loans at good rates.

Twelve years after the banking blow-up, credit unions have been presented with a second opportunity to capitalise on weakness in our financial services sector. They must not mess this one up if they are to survive and grow over the next decade.

The last time they were presented with the ball in front of an open goal they skied it into the stands. They need to score now, instead of being too keen to find someone else to blame.