Three Puerto Rican savings and credit cooperatives have become the first on the island to join the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) System, opening up a major new source of funding to help more families buy their own homes.
Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito La Sagrada Familia (SagradaCoop), Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito de Camuy (Camuy Cooperativa) and Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito de Lares y Región Central (LarCoop) have been accepted as members of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. Membership gives them access to long-term capital and liquidity, which they can use to expand mortgage lending in their communities.
"The formal acceptance of our membership application… marks a transformative milestone for our cooperativa and for the entire cooperative movement in Puerto Rico," said Eddie W. Alicea-Sáez, CEO of SagradaCoop, the first of the three to be admitted.
The milestone follows years of advocacy. Although Puerto Rico's cooperativas serve more than 1.2 million members and are publicly insured and regulated, structural differences from US credit unions had kept them out of the FHLB System. In 2023, Inclusiv, a network that counts all three cooperatives among its members, joined over 65 cooperativas in pressing the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to remove these barriers. In April 2024, the FHFA issued new guidance opening a path to membership, followed by an agreement between the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and COSSEC, Puerto Rico's cooperative regulator, to put it into practice.
"This partnership expands our access to liquidity and financing tools, enabling us to continue advancing the dream of homeownership and fostering the economic development of the communities we serve," said Carlos M. De Jesús Sánchez, President and CEO of LarCoop.
Mabel Jiménez-Miranda, Executive President of COSSEC, said the admission "demonstrates the strength and capacity of Puerto Rican cooperatives."
Inclusiv President and CEO Cathie Mahon described it as a monumental expansion that will help make homeownership affordable for low and moderate income Puerto Rican families.
