Vision Credit Union Shares Good News
Paulette Robinson
Submitted
Vision Credit Union President Alan D. Fielding conveyed excellent news regarding the impressive financial performance of the corporation for the 2019 fiscal year at the annual general meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 12.
The meeting was conducted in extraordinary social-distancing fashion in the expansive Barn B at Camrose Regional Exhibition.
“For the year, our assets grew 16.9 percent to over $1.2 billion. Our income, before ProfitShares allocation and income tax, increased 14.8 percent to nearly $19.3 million. We returned a whopping $12,580,000 to our loyal members through our unique ProfitShares program, which represents a 25 percent rebate on loan interest paid by our members and/or a 25 percent bonus on deposit interest paid to our members.”
Steve Friend, Chief Executive Officer, noted in his printed report to membership that a record $6,069,511, in cash, was paid to members.
“One of the highlights of the year for our seventy-year-old financial services organization was the purchase of the Wetaskiwin Credit Union, from Encompass Credit Union, which is based in Wainwright,” noted Fielding. “This purchase means that an additional 3,000 members are now enjoying our brand of service and our unique profit-sharing program.
Another milestone for 2019 was the construction and opening of an impressive new branch on Main Street, Stettler. This investment of $3 million into the Town of Stettler shows our ongoing commitment to provide optimum full-service financial services to people in rural and entrepreneurial Alberta.”
“Vision Credit Union has a mandate to provide seamless electronic banking, as well as first-class in-branch banking experience, to all of our nearly 25,000 members,” according to board chair Alan Fielding. “Our growth and our success also meant that, on behalf of the membership, we were able to give back an additional $130,000 in donations benefitting communities that we serve in east-central and northern Alberta. We are proud local supporters of the communities where we live and conduct business.”
Introduced at the meeting were two new directors: Doug Tremblay, who will be the voice of members from the Manning and La Crete trade area; also Dean Nelson, who will represent membership relying on the Wetaskiwin branch of Vision Credit Union. Changes to the corporation’s bylaws were required to facilitate the additional board members.
On August 21, 2020, the Boards of Directors of Vision and Lakeland Credit Unions announced they have begun formal merger discussions.
The first step of these discussions was to sign a mutual Letter of Intent to set out terms and allow the two credit unions to begin the due diligence phase. This phase includes sharing information and developing a plan to create a partnership for employees and members/owners of the two credit unions.
“We’re excited about the possibility of working with the Lakeland team and about serving the membership and trade area,” said Alan Fielding, Vision Credit Union President. “Vision Credit Union is rooted in Alberta and committed to providing financial services to the people who live here.”
To inform members, staff, and the overall communities Lakeland and Vision will be hosting both virtual and in-person Town Hall meetings — as COVID-19 restrictions allow. Vision and Lakeland Credit Unions plan to bring the proposed merger to a vote of their memberships in fall 2020.
Vision Credit Union, with 17 branches in 16 Alberta communities, plus a virtual banking branch, is Alberta’s third-largest Credit Union. VCU employs 168 full- and part-time employees. The head office is located in Camrose.
