IRISH League of Credit Unions (ILCU) president Samuel Adair has attacked bank chiefs, saying he would be embarrassed if the credit union movement ever found itself in the position in which Irish banks now find themselves.

Adair said ILCU would not seek a similar guarantee to the government's €400bn bailout for Irish banks because credit unions did not want to be associated with bankers.

He said the crisis showed that credit unions had a better record of acting in savers' interests than banks.

"No one in the credit union movement is earning fees of €2m a year. Our institutions are run by community leaders who act in the best interests of their members," he said. "While it is often commented that our organisations are amateur bodies run by amateurs, look at what happened to banks such as Lehman Brothers and Fortis, which were run by experts who didn't do very well."

Adair said that, despite not being underwritten by the state, savers could have confidence in credit unions because they did not have the same difficulties that have confronted the state's banks.

"We do not give out mortgages so we are not exposed there and we also do not get funding from the international money markets," he said.

"It's also worth stressing that deposits in credit unions are guaranteed up to €100,000, which we don't think will ever be called upon because we have never lost a credit union deposit since the movement's foundation.

"We have triple protection for savers – as well as the government guarantee, each institution has to hold reserves of 10%, and ILCU's €110m stabilisation fund, which helps credit unions in trouble."

Although Northern Irish credit unions are not subject to the €100,000 guarantee, Adair said there was no evidence of funds flowing across the border as a result.