Affinity Credit Union has announced a new structure for its district councils, but the move is not expected to have a big impact on southeast Saskatchewan.
During the credit union’s annual general meeting on April 19, 94 per cent of the members present voted in favour of reorganizing the 12 district councils into nine electoral districts. The change will take effect at next year’s annual general meeting in April.
The southeast has been part of district council 12. There were seven people from the southeast on the District 12 board, and three of those members were part of the Affinity Credit Union board.
Mark Lane, the credit union’s CEO, said it will now be the southeast electoral district.
“District 12 actually had an at-large model for some of its representation, so there were a few that were attached to specific branches, but there were also a few that were elected at large in District 12,” said Lane.
The success of the District 12 board was viewed as a model for Affinity as they studied changes to the governance model.
“There’s actually very little change to District 12 as part of the southeast district,” said Lane.
He predicted there would be the same level of representation for this district on Affinity’s board.
“There are some instances elsewhere in the province where we’re actually seeing some existing district councils come together to form a new district,” said Lane.
District council funds, which have supported a variety of projects in the southeast and elsewhere in the province, will continue to exist through this new model.
Lane said Affinity wants all members to have representation, including those who reside in a community where a branch isn’t open.
“The old system, or the one that we’ve enjoyed since 2008, was architected around the branch, and members, if you will, were assigned, if you will, to a branch of activity, in order to make that work,” said Lane.
But as members transition to more digital channels, he stressed the branch is no longer the centre of a member’s relationship with the credit union.
Lane said the annual general meeting offered some discussions about what these changes in people’s banking habits mean for the credit union and its branches.
“Certainly the way in which members are interfacing with the credit union is changing,” said Lane.
A lot of their members, like Canadians everywhere, use a mobile app or online banking.
“We reached another milestone,” said Lane. “As we entered 2017, seven out of 10 transactions are now being conducted through self-serve channels by members.”
Those services not only include the mobile app, which is their fastest-growing option, but other forms of online banking, such as automatic teller machines and touch-tone phones, although those are becoming less common, he said.
