Our History

The Fond St Jacques Credit Co-operative Society Limited is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial co-operative established to provide affordable financial services to its members.

Fond St Jacques is a rural farming community which is located about three miles (4.8 kilometres) inland from the west coast town of Soufriere. The area is well known for its high level of productivity which contributed to Soufriere once being referred to as the bread basket of St Lucia. Farming remains the main economic activity in the area.

In 1995, the relatively young, just over one year old, Fond St Jacques Development Committee, encouraged by the community’s strong track record of collaboration and successful joint undertakings, took on what seemed like a herculean task of establishing a credit union to serve the community. This was in response to the demands of its people who heard of the benefits of the credit unions in the nearby communities of Choiseul and Saltibus, and public servants who were able to join and enjoy the benefits from Teachers’, Police and Civil Service credit unions. Many of these people were unable to meet the requirements of the existing banks (three or more miles away) to access credit.

After several community meeting and stakeholder consultations, the Fond St Jacque Credit Co-operative Society Limited was registered on 17th October 1996, in accordance with the Co-operative Societies Law, Chapter 82 of the Law of St. Lucia (1957 revision).

Its main purpose is to promote thrift and make provisions whereby savings are realised by members and shares in the society can be purchased. Another major purpose was utilization of members' savings  to create credit facilities for them on reasonable terms and conditions. Other purposes are the education of members in Co-operative principles and methods and the efficient management of the Society’s affairs in a manner that improves the living standards  of members and the community by extension.

In its earlier days, the credit union served the community from Fond St Jacques to La Pearl Estate in Soufriere town. In 2000 the credit union successfully applied for the extension of its area of operations to include the entire constituency of Soufriere extending from Myers Bridge in the south through to Bouton in the north and Fond St Jacques down to Soufriere town.

Every prospective member of the Society shall:

• not be younger than sixteen (16) years of age;
• be of the geographical area of Soufriere;
• have ties with Soufriere e.g. (born there, work there, have property, or  parent (s)/spouse is from Soufriere);
• apply on the prescribe form and must purchase a minimum of $100 in equity/permanent shares. 

For almost the first ten (10) years the credit union operated from a few boxes providing services to members two days a week - Monday and Saturday. Today there are two branches - one at Ti Bough, Fond St Jacques and the other on Church Street in the Town of Soufriere
and open for business Mondays to Saturdays at both branches.