Cooperative financial institutions are believed to be less vulnerable to business and economic fluctuations linked to recessions and crises. This paper examines the short-term effects of Covid-19 on the British credit union sector drawing on survey data for 58 credit unions and follow-up interviews with 21 credit union managers. Loan demand, and the volume and value of loans were significantly lower in March and April 2020 after the introduction of government restrictions than in March and April 2019. Bad debt provisioning was also significantly higher in April 2020 than in April 2019. There was no significant difference for loan interest income between April 2019 and April 2020. The findings suggest that credit unions were affected by the pandemic in the same way as other financial institutions. For the majority of the credit unions, the decline in lending may be explained by a drop in consumer demand rather than restrictions put on the supply of credit. It is too early to conclude if the adverse economic conditions caused by Covid-19 will negatively affect the sustainability and ability of the sector to generate surpluses or if the cooperative model will shield the sector from resulting economic fluctuations, as suggested by the literature.

据信，合作金融机构不易受到与衰退和危机相关的商业和经济波动的影响。本文利用 58 家信用社的调查数据以及对 21 家信用社经理的后续采访，探讨了 Covid-19 对英国信用社部门的短期影响。政府出台限制措施后，2020 年 3 月和 4 月的贷款需求、贷款数量和金额均显着低于 2019 年 3 月和 4 月。2020 年 4 月坏账准备金也显着高于 2019 年 4 月。 2019年4月与2020年4月贷款利息收入的差异。调查结果表明，信用合作社与其他金融机构一样受到疫情的影响。对于大多数信用社来说，贷款下降可能是由于消费者需求下降，而不是信贷供应受到限制。正如文献所暗示的那样，现在判断 Covid-19 造成的不利经济状况是否会对该行业的可持续性和产生盈余的能力产生负面影响，或者合作模式是否会保护该行业免受由此产生的经济波动的影响还为时过早。