OTTAWA, Canada–This country’s credit unions are now in the clear and can continue to use the words “bank,” “banker,” and banking in their communications and advertising, thanks to a one-line entry that was buried on page 356 of Canada’s federal budget.
As CUToday.info reported here, in July of 2016 Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions issued an advisory that restricted the use of those the words “bank,” “banker,” or “banking” by non-bank financial service providers.
The decision had been widely criticized by Canada’s credit unions, which cited the lack of alternative words and the prohibitive costs related to all the changes that would need to be made. The OFSI eventually said it was suspending its review of the proposal.
But now one sentence slipped into the federal budget has officially given the federal government’s blessing to credit unions to officially use the three words. The federal budget said credit unions would have the "flexibility to use generic bank terms."
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., it is not known how the language came to be inserted.
"I'm quite pleased that the government has recognized that credit unions should use banking vernacular that Canadians are used to using, so we're very supportive of the changes," Martha Durdin, president and CEO of the Canadian Credit Union Association, told the CBC.
Credit unions provide banking services to 5.6 million Canadians.