The Canadian government is working on a new policy that would ban credit unions from calling themselves a bank or describing any of their services or activities as “banking.” The Lakeland Credit Union is less than impressed with these changes, to put it mildly.
“We’re obviously very disappointed with this decision at Lakeland Credit Union” says Vice President of Marketing and HR Amber Hughes. “It goes against all elements of common sense and puts our credit union at a distinct disadvantage.
“We’ve been using the verb ‘bank’ and the term ‘banking’ to describe what we do without penalty for years with the support of federal officials. We hope that this can be fixed before it is actually put into place and needs to be completed by August 2019.”
Hughes adds that credit unions across the country share that sentiment.
“We are all very disappointed with this decision and lobbying the government that this just doesn’t make sense. We’re pleading for a common sense approach to this legislation because it is a verb. Nobody can own the word or the verb and not allow people to use that. We just don’t think it makes any sense.”