Credit unions look to millennials, new Canadians for greater growth
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2019 (1835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
As an alternative to the major Canadian chartered banks, credit unions in Manitoba continue to have a lot of success.
In 2018, the 27 credit unions in the province put up mid-single-digit growth metrics in everything from total assets and lending activity to deposits and equity.
The credit unions have about 643,000 members, representing almost 50 per cent of the province’s population. Actual membership numbers grew by 1.6 per cent last year, and it would appear to be a challenge to raise that growth rate any higher, even with attractive deposit and lending rates.
Garth Manness, CEO of Credit Union Central Manitoba (CUCM), which is having its annual general meeting in Winnipeg today, doesn’t like to comment on strategic business approaches his member credit unions may or may not take, but he was prepared to say they are not satisfied to stand pat with current membership numbers.
“There are new Canadians and we want to make sure we serve the needs of new Canadians,” he said. “Also, we are probably under-represented in the millennial-aged demographic. We want to find ways to make sure that we can service them in the way they want to be served… at the same time respecting current memberships and meeting their needs.”
Manness said high single-digit growth would be ideal and that the rate of growth in 2018 was “reasonable.” The more moderate pace of economic growth that now seems to be taking hold in Manitoba has to be factored in, he said.
“We are outgrowing the economy,” he said. “We are always trying to increase growth and increase market share.”
Each of the individual credit unions will be more or less successful in deploying their own strategies for growth. For instance, Steinbach Credit Union, the largest in the province and the seventh largest in the country, cracked the $6-billion mark in assets in 2018.
As for CUCM, one of its main areas of focus is assisting members in making the right kind of investments in digital technology applications. Like in just about every other business, advanced digital technologies and changing demographics are affecting the way consumers want to receive services.
“Obviously, we are seeing changes in migration to digital services,” Manness said. “More people want to receive services online and through mobile applications. Our focus is to make sure we make good investments to be able to do that.”
Manness said CUCM continues to talk with the province about its decision a year ago to phase out a special deduction that, by 2023, will mean an additional $15 million its members will have to pay collectively in provincial corporate income tax. But no headway has been made in that regard yet.
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Martin Cash
Reporter
Martin Cash has been writing a column and business news at the Free Press since 1989. Over those years he’s written through a number of business cycles and the rise and fall (and rise) in fortunes of many local businesses.