Innovation Credit Union - North Battleford

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(00:03): Well, in my view, the principles and the, and the purpose of responsible banking lines up extremely well with our own purpose, our own principles, our values as an organization. Um, not only that we have three pillars that we will also align to around making sure we're a stable organization, making sure that we're efficient so we can pass, uh, those efficiencies back onto the consumers here in Canada. And also, uh, from utility perspective, we want to make sure that we're building products and services that everyone can aspire to, to leverage and use. A good example for us is our free banking account. Here's an account that we've created that has, um, created an environment where everyone has access to everyday banking, and there's no minimum balance, there's no fees involved. So we think that's a very important consideration when it comes to making sure that everyone has access to the basic elements of banking.

(01:02): And then from there, we work with our members to, to create a better environment for them and allowing them access to the full range of banking services that they deserve. The other interesting strategy we have is we've put a few of our advice centres. Um, we call our branches advice centres on wheels, and now we can go to communities that do not have access to financial services. There are communities in our region that have no financial institutions in their community, and these are large communities. So, we bring banking to them and that has allowed us, uh, you know, through the alignment to our overall purpose, create an environment where all consumers have access to the basic needs when it comes to banking. And so Innovation Credit Union has a number of, uh, examples that align to the overall purpose and principles that are also inspired through the responsible banking initiative.

(02:04): Well, I think the impacts, are again, aligned quite closely with our overall purpose and our principles at Innovation Credit Union, we aligned to all of the cooperative principles that credit unions, uh, are built upon. And, you know, when you think about how that ties back to the responsible banking initiative, a couple of things stand out. The first one is our, our organization is structured differently than most financial institutions. Our clients are our members are also our owners. So, they have the ability to provide great feedback, they have the ability to elect representatives to the board, that board provides strategic direction for the organization. So, it has real strong alignment to society's goals and, and, uh, dreams that they want to achieve. So, our democratic environment really provides a great environment for that. And not only that, we've also augmented that environment with some real time member feedback and that feedback again, allows management to ensure that as we're, as we're navigating through these disruptive times, we're aligning to what our members want, what society is looking for. So that we believe that as we move forward, we have a strong alignment with our members and ultimately the communities that we serve. So that's been very helpful.

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