Credit Unions first in customer service for 10th year in a row: Ipsos Reid

TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2014 /CNW/ - For a 10^th consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first in overall Customer Service Excellence and Branch Service Excellence among all Canadian financial institutions in the 2014 Ipsos^® Best Banking Awardsⁱ program.

"It's not a surprise that credit unions have been recognized for their ability to deliver first class service to our more than 5.3 million members," said Martha Durdin, president and CEO, Credit Union Central of Canada. "We believe these survey results reflect what Canadians have long been saying: that their credit union matters to them, to their local economy and to their communities. The personal, one-on-one service they receive, each and every time they work with a credit union, matters."

Credit unions also received an additional four awards in the annual program:

• A sole honour for Values my Business
  • Seventh consecutive year;
• Tied for firstⁱⁱ for Financial Planning and Advice
  • Seven consecutive wins in this category,
• Tied for first for Live Agent Telephone Banking Excellence
  • Second year in a row to share a win in this category; and
• Tied for first for Automated Telephone Banking Excellence;
  • Second year in a row to share a win in this category (note: prior to 2013 there was a single Award for total Telephone Banking, which the credit union system shared each year from 2008 to 2012).

"These results are a testament to the over 27,000 credit union and caisses populaires employees who consistently focus on providing individualized, personable and needs-centric financial service to their members. We appreciate the positive feedback from Canadians, and promise to continue to offer first-class, value-add products and services at every interaction," added Ms. Durdin.

About Credit Union Central of Canada (Canadian Central)

Credit Union Central of Canada is the national trade association for the Canadian Credit Union system.  Canada's credit union system is a vital competitor in the financial services industry. Canadian Central represents five provincial/regional Centrals and one Federation representing 320 credit unions with more than $162 billion in assets and serving over 5.3 million members, outside of Quebec. For more information about Canada's credit union system visit www.cucentral.ca.

For the 10^th consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first overall in Customer Service Excellence, among all financial institutions, surpassing all Canadian banks in Ipsos 2014 Best Banking Awards. Credit Unions also took sole honours in: Customer Service Excellence; Values my Business; and Branch Service Excellence. Credit unions tied for first among all financial institutions for Financial Planning and Advice; Automated Telephone Banking Excellence; and Live Agent Telephone Banking Excellence.

ⁱ Ipsos 2014 Best Banking Awards are based on ongoing quarterly Customer Service Index (CSI) survey results. Sample size for the total 2014 CSI program year ended with the August 2014 survey wave was 45,428 completed surveys yielding 68,738 financial institution ratings nationally.

ⁱⁱ Awards Criteria

Where more than one financial institution shares an Award, it indicates that there was no statistically significant difference between the eligible FI with the highest score and that of one or more other eligible FI's for the relevant Awards category; based on top box results stat tested at the 95% confidence level.

Awards sample size requirement: Minimum total unweighted institution count of 400 per financial institution per Awards category.

SOURCE: Credit Union Central of Canada

Veronica Feldcamp, Director, Trade Association Services, [phone], [phone], [email protected]