The leadership at Coast Capital Savings is pursuing the ‘journey’ to become a federal credit union. A few members of Coast Capital have expressed some alarm at the manner in which the consent of members was pushed through to authorize the project. I have also written a couple of posts (Bank?, and Sales Culture). Very recently four videos were added to the site governancewatch.ca. The first three set a conceptual framework through which events at Coast Capital can be assessed. The fourth recaps the particular events and shortcomings. VIDEO PODCASTS
The podcasts are well considered and put several questions forward.
In reality, credit union members have very limited powers to hold elected directors to account. The legislative provisions are weak, governance guidelines issued by FICOM are very modest, and one cannot even access a membership list to reach out to other member-owners.
For a few years Martin Duhamel and some Coast Capital members have maintained this website governancewatch.ca The site catalogues several concerns.
Insofar as formal accountability mechanisms may not be adequate, I have to commend those who use the web and informal channels to provide information and foster debate.