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
    • keeping products and services competitively priced,
    • 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 will:

  • Give us access to more members
  • Help us diversify outside of Saskatchewan borders
  • Ensure 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

We introduced a No-Fee Bank Account and automatically switched 23,000 members to it, so they could start saving money right away. 

You earn cash dividends simply by doing your everyday banking with us. Plus, you can enjoy competitive rates on every investment and loan product we have.

No-Fee Bank Account Banking Rewards

Utility

We became a Caring Company which means we give 2-4% of our pre-tax profits to activities and causes that build our community.

We embrace diversity and inclusion and have formed internal action committees and strategies to ensure inclusion is a prominent part of our credit union.

We found partners who share in our mission to positively contribute to our world. We became one of the Founding Signatories of the Principles for Responsible Banking. 

Caring Company Responsible Banking Principles

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™.