British Columbia

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The British Columbia Government Relations initiatives are led by Henry Han, Regional Director Government Relations, and by Khris Singh, Advisor. Below you will find information on the government relations work specific to British Columbia.

2024 Priorities

BCFSA Strategic Plans: On January 9th 2024 the CEO of BCFSA called credit union leaders together to address the stability of the credit union system in BC.

At the Summit, BCFSA’s Superintendent of Financial Institutions along with other BCFSA leaders noted the following:

highlighted the importance of the credit union segment as part of B.C.’s Financial Services Sector
and the need for credit unions to be relevant, resilient, and sustainable;
summarized BCFSA’s perspective on the economic forces currently impacting credit unions; and
outlined the key challenges facing credit unions that must be addressed.

Capital Modernization: In 2023, BCFSA started a multiyear consultation on Capitalization Modernization and moving the Credit Union system to a BASEL III Hybrid framework.

Open Banking: The Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) and its member credit unions have consistently championed Open Banking ever since the 2018 Federal Budget announced the creation of an Advisory Committee to examine it. The BC Government Relations team supports the Federal Government working groups through engagement with BC Credit Unions around Security, Privacy, Accreditation and Liability issues. The Federal Government Open Banking Committee recommenced in June 2024 and CCUA set up consultation meetings over summer 2024.

Natural Catastrophe and Climate Risk (NCCR) Guideline: BCFSA will start their scoping exercise around the Climate Risk Guideline in Summer 2023 and this ended with a CCUA submission on November 9th , 2023. CCUA will work with BCFSA and the CCUA Climate Action Working Group to identify cost effective and scalable solutions to identify and report physical risk. The guideline has a target date of 2025 to be drafted.

2023 Priorities: Natural Catastrophe and Climate Risk, World Credit Union Conference, Capital Modernization, Momentum Conference, OSFI B-15 consultation, proposal to the Rental Protection Fund , Ministerial engagements with the Minister of Housing, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation and the Minister of Finance.

BC Regulatory Roadmap

CCUA has advocated for a regulatory roadmap, which provides predictability and allows credit unions to choose which consultations to participate in, and to allocate their resources accordingly.

Please find the BCFSA regulatory road map for 2022 to 2025 here.

Engagement with British Columbia Credit Unions

BC Community of Practice (BC COP)

The BC COP helps to ensure good coordination among Government Relations practitioners in the credit union sector. This group meets to discuss regulatory, policy and government relations issues. governmentrelations@ccua.com

Small and Mid-sized Credit Union Committee (SMCUC)

The SMCUC works to ensure broad representation of the views of small and mid-sized credit unions in provincial advocacy initiatives and it serves as a forum for peer sharing. The group is comprised of CEOs, executives and board of directors. governmentrelations@ccua.com

Open Banking

The Open Banking Collaboration Group’s purpose to identify and to find solutions in Provincial legislative or regulatory barriers for Provincially Regulated Financial Institutions (PRFIs) to participate in Open Banking. governmentrelations@ccua.com

Engagement with the BC Government

The CCUA BC government relations team has engaged the Minister of Finance, Minister of Housing and the Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation around the credit union system role in the BC economy beyond the risk lens that the sector is engaged through.

Market Code of Conduct

The Market Code of Conduct (MCC) is a sector-led initiative to demonstrates Credit Union’s commitment to the fair treatment of all those who their services. In the Province of BC, the MCC came into effect on June 30th, 2022 and the first submission to the regulator happened at the end of January 2023.

The BC Financial Services Authority (“BCFSA”), the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (“OBSI”), and the Canadian Credit Union Association (“CCUA”) are pleased to collaborate to support credit unions through this transition.

Market Code of Conduct Resources

The British Columbia Government Relations initiatives are led by Henry Han, Regional Director Government Relations, and by Khris Singh, Advisor. Below you will find...

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