BC credit unions now have ‘two’ regulatory systems; the second one has been implemented using ‘opportunities’ within the Financial Institutions Act (‘FIA’), not envisioned under the FIA.
Regulatory Over-reach
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A Wealthy Person’s Housing Strategy
Canada’s housing strategy is rigged to favour those with big homes and wealth. We unfortunately argue about the small amounts that are expended on those who really need help, missing the real point. I applaud those who call the government to account. Today a blog post at policynote.ca details how the most wealthy have benefited […]
Credit Union Burdens and Truths
The Ministry of Finance released it’s set of proposals for ‘revising’ the Financial Institutions Act and the Credit Union Incorporation Act back in March. Credit unions and others were invited to comment. I took part in some of the credit union system discussions and I think the ‘credit unions of BC’ provided a polite and […]
Reconciling Credit Unions
Canada’s credit unions endorsed key recommendations of the truth and reconciliation commission today. At the Canadian Credit Union Association AGM a member resolution, proposed by Affinity Credit Union, was carried by a wide margin. That was great. One issue went unexplored. Why are there no first nations based credit unions in this room? The […]
What is the Difference?
The National Credit Union conference next week has been pitched as exploring the credit union ‘difference’. It is common to hear the CCUA and some other advocates for credit unions make a general reference to the ‘difference’. The CCUA home page includes this text: Credit unions are full service financial co-operatives. Like other financial institutions, […]
Commercial Loans & Economic Development
For several months Central 1 has sought a concession from the BC government on the capital required for a commercial loan portfolio if the portfolio exceeds 30% of a credit union’s total assets. Currently, under the Capital Requirements Regulation, if the level of commercial lending breaches that threshold the excess amount requires twice the capital […]
Director Training Trap
Central 1 is now canvasing credit unions on what the ‘mandatory’ director training program should look like. The survey is well thought out and to be welcomed, but the implications and the potential conflicts of interests need to be considered. The current one year Credit Union Director Achievement (CUDA) program will be expanded into a […]
Connected or Tethered
I recently stumbled upon two branches of the Apple Bank in New York. I wondered if this was the extension of ‘Apple Pay’. I was challenged to think about a potential ‘Google bank’ and what that might mean. (Just to be clear, I later learned that the Apple Bank in NYC has nothing to do […]
de-Banked
Watch out if you use the word ‘bank’. On June 30th the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (“OSFI”) issued an advisory that re-asserted that the use of the words bank, banker, and banking are restricted under The Bank Act. OSFI expressed displeasure at the expanded use of the words by non-banks and they […]
Bankers` Long Game
Consolidation and cartel building is the long term strategy of the Big Banks and it seems to go on without much alarm. This is partly because of their patience and partly because other players are distracted by other things; technology, risk management, new capital rules, new liquidity monitoring tools, mortgage insurance changes, etc.. But these […]