National credit union association welcomes temporary transitional support measures under the federal credit union framework

TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2014 /CNW/ - Credit Union Central of Canada, the national trade association for Canada's credit union system, welcomes today's announcement by the Minister of Finance of the federal government's intent to provide temporary transitional support to eligible provincial credit unions to move to the federal framework.

The temporary transitional support measures will enhance the federal credit union framework by facilitating the ability of eligible credit unions that choose to do so to move from provincial regulation to a federal credit union charter operating under federal standards. This will help to achieve the purpose of the federal credit union framework, which came into force in 2012 to promote competition and innovation in the Canadian financial services market by providing credit unions with the strategic option of delivering financial services nationally under a federal credit union charter.

"Federal credit union legislation has been in place for over a year. Credit unions that have examined this new option have identified some challenges in moving from provincial jurisdiction to the federal level," said David Phillips, President and CEO of Credit Union Central of Canada.  "The temporary transition support measures announced today will help these credit unions to meet these challenges. This will lead to increased competition in financial services that will benefit all Canadians."

The Minister of Finance has invited Credit Union Central of Canada to participate in a consultation process to develop terms and conditions for the support measures. Credit Union Central of Canada looks forward to working with the Department of Finance to implement the measures announced today.

To read the letter from Minister Flaherty to Credit Union Central of Canada, click here.

To view today's Ministry of Finance press release, visit: http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/14-010-eng.asp

To read the associated backgrounder, visit: http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/data/14-010_2-eng.asp

About Credit Union Central of Canada (Canadian Central)
Credit Union Central of Canada is the national trade association for the Canadian credit union system. Canadian Central represents five regional Centrals and one Federation representing 336 credit unions with more than $156.4 billion in assets and serving over 5.3 million members, outside of Quebec. For more information about Canada's credit union system and Canadian Central visit www.cucentral.ca.

For the ninth consecutive year, Canadians ranked credit unions first in overall Customer Service Excellence, among all financial institutions, surpassing all Canadian banks in Ipsos 2013 Best Banking Awards. Credit unions also took sole honours in: Branch Service Excellence; and Values My Business. Credit unions tied for first among all financial institutions for Financial Planning & Advice; Mobile Banking Excellence; Automated Telephone Banking Excellence; and Live Agent Telephone Banking Excellence.

SOURCE: Credit Union Central of Canada

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