SURREY, B.C.–Coast Capital Savings Credit Union here is seeking to expand nationally.
CEO Don Coulter told TheProvince.com that the CU has been considering such an expansion for years, and is now asking members to vote on whether they want to proceed with registration as a federal credit union.
“(In banking) two, three, four years from now, there is going to be such change and we, on the management team and board, have decided this is the best way to make sure the organization is healthy, strong, sustainable,” Coulter told TheProvince.com.
The $17-billion CU has 532,000 members and is among Canada’s largest credit unions, but Coulter said national expansion would help give it the strength to develop the online and mobile services that millennial and next-generation customers will take as a given, TheProvince.com reported.
Should Coast Capital move forward with its plan, it would become the second credit union to go federal. Canada’s CUs have traditionally been limited to operating within their home provinces. The expansion to the federal charter—which was enacted as part of amended regulations in 2012—is partly in response to the emerging fintech providers and consumers’ declining interest in local branches and growing interest in strong online platforms.
TheProvince.com reported a website called Coast Capital Governance Watch has been critical of the institution’s national ambitions, which it sees as an erosion of member influence in its governance.
Coulter told the publication there are no plans to change governance, and it will remain a member-owned co-operative. “We’re not going to become a big bank,” he said.