Credit unions can expand past home provinces
Posted December 21, 2012 8:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Credit unions can now “go national” thanks to long-promised changes by the federal government.
News1130 Business Editor Richard Dettman talks with one BC credit union that’s looking at doing just that.
Acting on changes first promised in the 2010 budget, Ottawa will let credit unions operate outside their home province. Canada’s second-largest credit union is Coast Capital Savings, and Don Coulter is its CFO. “We don’t have any definitive plans to go outside {of BC} at this point in time, but we think in the future there’s quite a good posssiblity.”
Coulter says it’s a milestone. “We think of partnering, because we’re a cooperative-based organization. So if there’s a like-minded credit union that also thinks that conducting business beyond provincial boundaries makes sense, we would certainly be open to those considerations.”
He says the members would have to approve any expansion, which could be through merger or simply setting up shop in other provinces.
