Innovation Credit Union pursing vision to expand digitally across Canada

Innovation Credit Union is aiming to transition into a national credit union in order to provide digital services to customers across Canada.

Details of their Innovation 2020 plan will be discussed during Innovation Credit Union’s annual meeting on April 4, and all members are being asked to have their say during a membership vote this fall. Their ultimate goal is to complete the pursuit of becoming a national credit union by 2020.

Innovation CEO Dan Johnson shared details of the initiative during the Chamber on Tap & Uncorked event at the Credit Union on March 1. He explained their efforts will enable Innovation to remain strong financially into the future as they reach out to compete via the same channels competitors utilize to reach into the Saskatchewan banking market.

“So currently we have done a really good job of providing different products and services and channels to bank, and we’re very competitive on rates. And that’s a good thing for consumers and our members. And that’s a result of the competition coming into our region and creating that environment. And we embrace that,” Johnson said.

“However, when we look to grow and evolve as an organization, we don’t have the ability to do that. But we have to make sure that we do it in a way that we still respect and retain and understand those who have made us successful. And we believe we’re doing that, but also build and evolve as an organization for those future generations.”

The proposed expansion is digital in nature, as Innovation doesn’t plan to open branches across Canada. As a federally regulated Credit Union, they would fall under regulations set by the Canadian Federal Bank Act and regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. Currently, they operate under provincial legislation and are regulated by the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority and the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation. Innovation management is confident their application will be approved, and they will become the third Credit Union in Canada to pursue this national opportunity. UNI Financial became Canada’s first federal credit union in July 2016, while members from Coast Capital Savings voted to go national this past December.

“When you look at one of the reasons why we’re doing it, the federal government has created an environment for competition to the Big Five. They still own over 90 per cent of the market, so they’re looking for competitors in the financial services space. They feel, and we feel, we’re a viable alternative to be that domestic competitor to the banks on a national scale.”

Despite the change, Innovation will remain a co-operative with a strong local presence, and members will continue to have voting and ownership privileges. Innovation will also continue to have close ties with other Saskatchewan credit unions as well as being a strong partner in the credit union system.

“We believe we’re the right organization to do it because we’re financially strong. When we look at becoming even more regulated in a national space, we’ll do just fine. But we also are financially strong, and can afford to look at these growth opportunities,” Johnson said.

Innovation Credit Union sent out a letter to all members in 2016 when they first decided to start the process of becoming a federally regulated Credit Union. They are currently communicating will all members in order to educate them on the benefits of their initiative.

“We wanted to give an indication we’re working on this project, and start to build momentum around the messages that we want to have and the conversation we need to have with our owners. Because it’s the owners that will give us the ability to do this. So we will be going to a special vote in the fall. But we want to make sure that we’re talking to everyone that can vote. And we hope to get a whole bunch of people out to vote, because the last thing we want to see is a scenario where we just have a small group of our owners voting on something so important to our organization,” he said.

Johnson added that this innovative idea is part of their forward thinking philosophy.

“We kind of want to live up to our name in a lot of ways,” Johnson said. “We have built a mechanism in our organization where, from the board down through our front-line staff, we’ve had the ability to understand both the current environment and the environment into the future. And we need to adapt to that.”

Full details of their proposal is available online at https:// www.voteyesinnovation2020. ca/