OTTAWA – The Canadian government says it is reviewing whether credit unions should be allowed to use the terms “banks,” “banker” and “banking,” after the country’s federal regulator had earlier issued a prohibition on the usage of the terms by CUs.
In the meantime, Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions has said it is suspending its order that credit unions remove any banking references from their websites by the end of the year, from print materials by June 30, 2018, and from signage by June 30, 2019.
The deadline to submit comment is Sept. 29.
As CUToday.info reported here, in June the OSFI surprised the country’s credit union community by issuing an advisory prohibiting credit unions from using bank, banker or banking to describe their services.
The Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) along with the country’s CUs were strongly critical of the ruling, arguing the terms are commonly used and not the exclusive domain of banks, and that complying with the changes would be onerous and expensive.
As CUToday.info also reported here, the CCUA met earlier this year with the regulator and came away from the meeting believing the OFSI would reconsider.
Now, the Finance Department has issued a statement that it is seeking views on whether credit unions should be allowed to use bank, banker and banking when describing their services while avoiding what it called “confusion” in the market.
It is now seeking comment through Sept. 29.