Dear Credit Union members:

Once again, I am proud to provide you with a yearly review of our Credit Union. 2024 was not an easy year for most financial institutions, organizations, and businesses overall in the United States. The changing regulatory and political environment, volatile markets, and the overall global attempts to settle into a new way of doing things post-pandemic proved to be a challenge for everyone, one that took (and continues to) a toll.

I am pleased to report that here at OAS FCU, we have remained headstrong and found a renewed sense of energy and determination, something that served us well in the past and that will believe will continue to assist us in navigating this ever-changing social, political, and financial order. We are fully aware that our international membership in the US has been and will continue to be directly affected by the current social and political challenges. We want you to know that the Credit Union is ready and willing to assist you to the fullest extent possible.

Our internal reorganization continues, and we are embarking on a new three-year strategic plan to help our Credit Union weather this new world. The plan, drafted from the input generated during a volunteer and staff retreat in 2024, is aimed to help OAS FCU become a more responsive, agile, and efficient institution that will meet members’ financial needs in every stage of their lives. We are already working on this updated vision for the future of our institution, and we expect it will serve us in the short and the long term. I am proud to say that this plan includes work to continue our endeavors on environmental and social stewardship.

We are always here for our members. As you know, many of you have been (and continue to be) directly affected by the sociopolitical situation in the United States. We continue working with the organizations where you work and are always available to meet with you and help you through whatever difficulties you may be facing. There is no better time than the present to remind everyone that OAS FCU was established to serve as an inclusive, trusted financial institution for friendly and affordable banking in the United States. Our spirit of inclusion, welcoming the diverse and establishing mutual trust remains strong today, and I would like to reiterate that our door is always open to you, whenever and whatever your situation in life.

Of course, we constantly work on providing quality of service to all our members worldwide. To this end, we continue to retool and enhance our communication channels to serve you better. The combination of Global Access Branch, website redesign and the new communications platform, all of which we are introducing in stages, represents a milestone in how we will serve every one of you worldwide.

As always, our Board, Committees, staff, and management continue to work, day-in and day-out to provide you with the most optimally priced dividend rates on your deposits, and interest rates on your loans. We are constantly evaluating and adjusting to keep the rates we offer you competitive and beneficial to you, while maintaining an adequate, strong financial standing. This year I would like to extend my extra appreciation to them, as they helped us brave what would have otherwise been a much more trying period.

I would like to remind our members to please stay ahead of fraud and cybercrime trends. We publish periodic blog posts on these topics and maintain an up-to-date cybersecurity section on our web portal available to all.

To end, I would like to end by thanking everyone. Firstly, our amazing volunteer corps, for their ongoing dedication to help steer us in the direction of continued success. Our outstanding personnel, who keep us going through thick and thin. And you, our members, without whose support and trust OAS FCU would not exist.

Our commitment to you remains steadfast. I would like to reflect on this year’s Annual Report’s theme, “together we belong”.  We are a shared enterprise; today, more than ever, it is important to remember not just that this is our financial institution, of which we are members and owners; we belong here because we choose to put our trust in our abilities, our strength, and our determination to build a financial institution that is something greater than the sum of its parts. That we would not exist without each and every one of us. Let us all thank each other for this trust and appreciate this commitment.

On behalf of everyone at OAS FCU, we look forward to continuing serving you and yours for a great many years to come.

Respectfully,

Carlos R. Calderon, CEO