SCU has good year despite economic downturn

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This article was published 13/03/2024 (185 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steinbach Credit Union held its annual general meeting on Tuesday night and executives announced 2023 was a good year despite the economic downturn.

“The past two years have been challenging to say the least for everyone. Obviously, COVID caused many issues. Interest rates hit historic lows making it very difficult for retirees to live off their savings. Then current inflation, Bank of Canada increased rates in the fastest pace in generations, compounding the financial impact for us,” said CEO Glenn Friesen.

“For SCU, 2023 was a good year under the current economic conditions. Deposits were up by 5.7 percent while loans grew 5.36 percent. These numbers are down from past years, but are still well above Manitoba Credit Union system average. The average deposit growth was 3.55 percent, we’re about 60 percent higher than that and the average loan growth was 2.55 percent, we were more than double that.”

Asset growth in 2023 hit 4.6 percent or $9.5 billion, which is up from 2022’s $9.1 billion. Membership grew with the addition of 5,028 new members totaling 110,009 members. The member bonus hit $12 million and will be deposited into accounts on March 15.

“The bonus will be shared for members who hold both deposit and lending accounts. The breakdown of this allocation will be 60 percent to deposit holders and 40 percent to credit holders. Eligible products include consumer, commercial, ag, charity, and community accounts,” said board chair Maria Reimer.

Some of the exceptions to the bonus are RESP, DSP, and GICs. The bonus is calculated on interest earned and paid on qualifying products in 2023 and equates to an additional 3.05 percent on deposit interest earned and 1.29 percent on loan interest already paid, according to Reimer.

For example, if a member paid $5,000 in interest on their mortgage in 2023, they can expect an approximate bonus of $64.50, which equates to a 1.29 percent bonus on interest already paid. Similarly, members who received $1,500 in interest on their savings accounts in 2023 would enjoy a member bonus of approximately $45.75, which translates to a 3.05 percent bonus on interest already received.

One of the issues raised at the meeting is the use of technology. A member asked if there will be sign-in authentication with doing online banking.

“We are working with our suppliers,” Friesen told the member. “We do have multifactor authentication for changing bill payees or adding bill payees, but we don’t have it when you log on and its something that we have raised with our supplier and certainly we have to keep on improving our security, but we are working on it.”

Friesen was asked if there was a merger on the horizon to which he replied that it’s something that was discussed but nothing is happening on that front.

“Will that change one day, I don’t know. But certainly, it hasn’t for 83 years,” he said.

Friesen said Steinbach Credit Union has been competitive with other credit unions in the province.

“We’re a very efficient organization. We have three branches that are full service and we make sure that we watch our nickels and dimes and they turn into hundreds of dollars and millions of dollars.”

This year the membership re-elected board members Doris Martens, Bruce Penner, and Maria Reimer. Penner was elected at first vice-chair and Reimer as board chair. Chris Goertzen was elected to the board as second vice-chair.

Spin to win was also held where members spun a cash prize wheel with just under $9,000 handed out. The largest prize to go to a member was $1,500 and smallest prize was $500. One member spun the wheel and donated his winnings to Soup’s On. Friesen said all three spins from the member would be totaled and donated to Soup’s On.

Soup’s On also received a cheque from SCU valued at $9,365.