A few months ago, I saw a poll that found 78 per cent of Canadians think children will be worse off financially than their parents are now. Another poll found almost half of British Columbians do not think they’ll be able to cover expenses over the next 12 months without going further into debt.
I know many of our members share these concerns. Vancity wants to change that.
Since our founding, Vancity has been in the business of providing hope for a better future. We have tools and expertise to help more members feel more optimistic and confident about their finances. And we at Vancity are excited to work hard to make that happen.
But our own loss year in 2023 was a wake-up call, and we realized we had to do things differently, and better, for our members. As Rita outlines in her message, that meant asking ourselves some really tough questions about who we are, what makes us important and valuable to our members, and how we can be even more impactful.
And in the uncertain world around us, that only seems to get increasingly uncertain, I firmly believe that our greatest value is to be an island of hope for our members and communities. Credit unions were born out of some of the most difficult times of our past, and in our roots exists an optimism that the path forward can be built on a foundation of our values which includes strong communities.
And this makes me optimistic that we can help our members achieve their financial dreams – buy their first home, save for retirement, start or grow their business, climate proof their home or business, or get their kids started in life – even as life gets more expensive and money gets tighter. And hope for a brighter future, and a better world – a more just, more equitable, more inclusive, more sustainable and greener world – for ourselves and the next generation.
But we also know we have not been meeting
our members’ most basic expectation – to
deliver the best possible services and banking
experiences, the way we used to. We used to
innovate and lead on serving people better.
Things everyone takes for granted today,
such as daily interest calculation, all-in-one
monthly statement, and not requiring women
to have a male
But now we must earn, all over again, the right to be considered by members as a serious financial institution, in addition to our great impact work and being there when they need us in an emergency. We have to be seen, once more, as a place that meets everyone’s day-to-day banking needs as well as any other bank.
That’s why our top priority has been tackling our service gap, starting by following through on our commitment from last year to bring in a new online banking platform and mobile app. In 2024, we contracted with one of the top banking platform providers in the world to deliver this with us, and expedited the many backend changes and upgrades needed from our end to make this happen. We expect the new platform and app will be live by the end of 2025.
In 2024, we also rolled out many upgrades members have been asking from us for a long time. Things like online account opening, Google Pay debit capability, taking care of longstanding debit card tap issues, increasing members’ point of sale limits, delivering faster loan approval, and others. I’m aware that most of these represent us catching up to the industry, not leading it. But they show we are serious about delivering better service – and eventually, the best service – to our members.
At the same time, we also worked hard to get our costs in line and be a much more efficient organization. Those were hard choices, but ones necessary to rightsize and streamline our operations, so that we can better use our revenue on the things that matter most to members – our service and our impact.
“ We at Vancity have gaps to close and we know we need to serve you better, and we’re tackling these challenges head on. But at the end of the road, we will deliver you the best credit union in Canada.”
And I’m happy to report that our renewed focus on serving members better and being more deliberate and balanced in how we’re generating revenue is starting to show results. In 2024, despite a volatile economic environment with slow economic growth across Canada, we returned to profitability, with a net income attributable to members of $5.8 million. We ended the year with nearly $516 million in core revenue, grew our net interest income, and improved our non-interest income. And our core deposit growth was comparable to the rest of the sector.
And we’re achieving this turnaround while continuing our great impact work and staying true to our values. In 2024, for example, we financed the construction or renovation of 1,924 units of affordable housing. We created a new “Small Business Module” of our Wealth Mindset Program to support Indigenous entrepreneurs. We supported 1,097 homes with retrofit grants to make them more climate ready. And we won awards for being one of BC’s top employers as well as one of Canada’s top family-friendly employers.
Growing our impact and further improving our financial performance are both critical and go hand in hand. We need to be more profitable precisely because we want to be more impactful – help our members achieve their hopes and dreams, and help build a better, cleaner, and fairer world for them and their children. And our financial performance is still a long way from our potential given our size and fundamentals.
That’s why the focus on member service and impact will continue to guide us into the future as we begin a new phase for our credit union. Our goal is simple – to build the best credit union in Canada. Because we truly believe in our co-operative values, we believe that if we can accomplish that goal, it will also make us the best financial institution in Canada too.
At the same time, we’ll also continue and grow the values-driven work that sets us apart from other financial institutions. Because our values are who we are, we’ll continue looking at how we can better serve our Indigenous partners, new Canadians, and anyone facing barriers to full financial participation. We’ll continue to help build more affordable housing and help members reduce emissions and make homes and work locations more climate-ready. And we’ll be unwavering in continuing our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation (DEIR) work, as Rita notes in her message.
2025 is looking like another challenging year for many people around us. My most fundamental commitment to our members for 2025 is that Vancity will be a beacon of hope and optimism – demonstrating that, together, we can forge a path towards a more prosperous, equitable, and fair world. We at Vancity have gaps to close and we know we need to serve you better, and we’re tackling these challenges head on. But at the end of the road, we will deliver you the best credit union in Canada.
And we’re just getting started.