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.

2025 Priorities

2025 priorities are currently being revised by BCFSA and they released their revised roadmap in April removing climate risk and moving other regulatory consultations back. The focus for CCUA going forward will be on supporting the removal of interprovincial trade barriers. BC credit unions met with the Minister of Finance in March 2025 to voice their support for the removal of barriers to internal trade. The second priority will be on credit union strategic plans and competitiveness.

Core regulatory issues that should be on your radar are:

BCFSA has a AML consultation that was planned for summer 2025 it looks like they will be pushed back to the fall and a guideline would follow that consultation. CCUA received notification that the consumer protection branch will be addressing the modernization of the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act with legislation that will cover credit protection. Credit Unions should be aware that as lenders they could be impacted by this potential legislation – specifically around credit alerts, freezing of accounts and identify verification. There is no timeline on this legislation CCUA has a meeting pending with Consumer Protection BC to get an update in August 2025.

Interprovincial Trade Barriers

CCUA’s advocacy in the short term will focus on a number of items that is included in BCFSA’s mandate letter, notably: Support the Ministry of Finance in developing and implementing government policy objectives in the financial sector including reducing trade barriers and responding to tariffs and other global threats. CCUA with full participation from the sector advocated for extra-provincial to Minister of Finance and with BCFSA in March 2025.

Advocacy will focus on a CUDIC review as that is one of the key barriers to removing trade barriers for credit unions and its one of the key concerns of credit unions in other provinces. A cap on deposit insurance across key provinces would create a pathway to advance the discussion on removing interprovincial trade barriers.

The momentum for removal of trade barriers for credit unions originated in BC in March where credit unions and CCUA requested the minister to have the discussion with her counterparts as this was the pathway that is in provincial control. As of August 2025 Ontario, Quebec and Alberta are interested in furthering the dialogue, with Ontario requesting a presentation from CCUA on the matter. CCUA will focus its advocacy on supporting the other provinces and on presenting to CUPSA. In BC the advocacy will be on a CUDIC review and putting a limit on the deposit insurance to remove the barrier to interprovincial trade barriers.

BCFSA request for strategic plans

CCUA will support members in the development of their response to BCFSA for future business model, partnerships, federated models, strategic mergers, growth opportunities (extra-provincial), and work to better understand potential impact of consolidation for BC communities, small businesses, and members.

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 started 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 2026 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 2025/2026 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.

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.

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.

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

Financial Institutions Act: Sections 94.2 & 94.3
Credit Union Complaint Resolution Regulation (Feb. 2022)
Market Conduct Code Guide Overview– National (Dec 2021)
Market Conduct Code Guide Detailed Overview BC (Jan 2022)

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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