A levy designed to provide financial support to struggling credit unions has been maintained at a similar rate to this year’s.

The Department of Finance said that the Credit Union Stabilisation Levy for 2024 would be 0.001441% of assets, leading to a total charge of around €300,000 for the entire credit-union sector.

Earlier this year, the Government announced that a separate Credit Institution Resolution Levy, set up to deal with any financial difficulties in the sector, would be halved for 2024.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Minister of State responsible for credit unions) said that, as a result of the two decisions, total costs for credit unions would fall from €5.3 million in 2023 to €2.8 million in 2024.

Review planned

The changes in the rates come ahead of a wider review of both levies planned for 2024.

The minister said that the Credit Union Advisory Committee and the Department of Finance were currently working on preparing terms of reference for these reviews.

The move comes after the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 passed all stages in the Oireachtas earlier this week.

The proposals are aimed at giving credit unions more flexibility to expand their membership and services.