The Story

Responsible Banking™ 

A Strong Foundation

Responsible Banking™ was a popular concept in Europe and Asia – being socially responsible, sustainable, thinking of all stakeholders. So how did it end up at Innovation?

Well, we knew the Canadian Government’s Department of Finance aims to make our economy function for the middle class and those working hard to join it. To do so, it has three core policy objectives:

  • Stability – staying resilient in the face of stress.
  • Efficiency
    • being innovative,
    • contributing to economic growth, and
    • passing on efficiency gains to consumers.
  • Utility – meeting the financial needs and protecting the interests of a wide array of consumers.

We viewed these objectives as truly foundational. So how could we incorporate them into your banking experience?

A Good Start

  1. As a co-operative, we saw how co-operative principles would contribute to this foundation.

  2. And being a credit union made it easier to achieve the policy objectives.

    Credit unions are different than banks. Banks hike fees, cut jobs, and close branches to make a profit for shareholders – quite the opposite approach to the three objectives. A credit union’s shareholders are our members – YOU! So, we can easily follow the objectives because they keep our shareholders’ (your) best interests in mind.

  3. We were already sharing our profits with members and our community which was a solid fit.

What else could we do? And how could we tie it all together?

Putting the Objectives into Action

Stability

To help achieve stability, our members voted in favor of us becoming a federal credit union headquartered in Saskatchewan. Becoming federally regulated:

  • Gives us access to more members
  • Helps us diversify outside of Saskatchewan borders
  • Ensures we are more resilient and sustainable today and tomorrow

When faced with the stress of a declining membership in smaller rural communities, we didn’t follow the big banks’ lead. Instead of closing branches leaving talented people out of work, we chose to retrain and empower our staff. They learned new, innovative ways to help you.

Federalization Empowering Staff

Efficiency

Efficiency means operating in a cost-effective, innovative manner. By improving the way we do things, enhancing our technology and self-service options, we can reduce transaction costs and pass those savings onto you! 

Digital Banking Services

Utility

Utility means ensuring our products and services are accessible and available to all Canadian people and businesses. It's offering competitively priced accounts, banking services, and investment options that meet your diverse needs.

This policy objective is at the heart of products like our No-Fee Bank Account and No-Fee USD Account. You deserve to pay less bank fees! Plus, you can enjoy competitive rates on every investment and loan product we have.

How much does Utility mean to us? When we introduced our No-Fee Bank Account, we automatically switched 23,000 members to it, so they could start saving money right away. 

Plus, you earn cash dividends simply by doing your everyday banking with us. 

No-Fee Bank Account Rewards

Responsible Banking™: Save, Earn, Give

The three core objectives are about serving you better as well as protecting your interests and your communities’ interests. As you can see, they are the foundation of our Responsible Banking™ movement.

Responsible Banking™ is our commitment to doing the right thing so you can:

  • Save money with fewer fees, great rates, and helpful advice
  • Earn cash dividends simply by doing your everyday banking with us
  • Give to causes you care about

Visit our Save, Earn, Give page to read more articles about Responsible Banking™.