2021

Annual Report

2021 Annual Report

CEO Message

Benjamin Chappell,
President and CEO

“At Alberta Central, we believe in the power of a common interest to grow and strengthen our system. In this rapidly changing environment, our unwavering commitment to connect credit unions to the products, services, knowledge, and partnerships they need to be market leaders, reflects our commitment to boldly forge ahead and evolve the traditional role of a central.”

Across the world, 2021 was about resilience. The ebbs and flows of pandemic waves, new variants, and economic and social disruptions were felt by industries, communities, and people. Throughout this, Alberta Central’s objective was simple: stay focused on our purpose to champion change and bring value and expertise to credit unions.

This focus was sustained through continued execution of our marketplace connector strategy. In 2021, we delivered significant support to the Prairie Payments Joint Venture (PPJV) and provided leadership in Project Evolution, a joint prairie initiative exploring opportunities to optimize the credit union payments, technology, and support services ecosystem. We also acted as the Central Credit Facility Administrator for the Canada Emergency Business Account program, facilitated collaboration through the Digital Transformation Project that supported credit union digital banking platform migrations, and advocated on behalf of credit unions with the Alberta government. We built awareness of credit unions’ value proposition through digital marketing and public relations campaigns and supported small business with our Big Future Innovation Grant program. Thought leadership efforts through economic expertise, research on member acquisition strategies, and the launch of the Enterprise Risk Management credit union network – as well as the ongoing execution of our other networks – provided support to credit unions through thoughtful engagement and action on critical issues.

As we move through 2022 and beyond, delivering on our immediate priorities through PPJV and Project Evolution will be a critical part of our strategy, as will be continuing to create value for credit unions every day. We make this a reality through our persistent efforts to understand credit unions’ business needs, challenges, and goals so we can continue to provide core and new services that make sense for them.

In 2022, we must also get future ready, now. Our system will continue to be disrupted by payments modernization, digital banking, and technological innovation – to name just a few. The technology and digital landscape will continue to evolve rapidly, and credit unions must keep pace with these changes. Alberta Central’s role will be to drive successful change on these fronts and many others, and to do so, we must prepare for the next stage of our marketplace connector strategy.

Finally, I would be remiss to not recognize Alberta Central’s employees and board of directors. I began in my role as CEO only a short time ago, but I was immediately struck by the incredible people behind Alberta Central, and I am proud to be part of an organization so dedicated to the credit union system. Thank you to all for your support and incredible hard work.

At Alberta Central, we believe in the power of a common interest to grow and strengthen our system. In this rapidly changing environment, our unwavering commitment to connect credit unions to the products, services, knowledge, and partnerships they need to be market leaders reflects our commitment to boldly forge ahead and evolve the traditional role of a central.

On behalf of the Alberta Central team, we look forward to supporting credit unions in 2022 and beyond.

expand_less

Chair Message

Perry Dooley, Chair

“As the financial services space continues to undergo transformation, the board will continue to be a catalyst for innovation and change.”

In 2021, our global community continued to face more of the same as it did in 2020. Despite a surreal sense of familiarity, the weight of the pandemic on our organizations and communities did not go unnoticed. COVID-19 economic and business implications, alongside the impacts to social and mental wellbeing of our workforce, families and communities, will undoubtedly give us a catalogue of learnings for years to come.

As board chair, the main learning for me, was the power of flexibility and resilience. Historically, being agile has not always been synonymous with good governance as there can be risk in pivoting or changing direction. Yet ultimately, the past two years have shown us quite the opposite. In the board’s role to act in the best interests of the organization and consistently demonstrate our loyalty to good governance, flexibility had to be embraced. Beyond the pandemic, Alberta Central was navigating other changes including a CEO transition, continued and significant focus on operationalizing payments modernization through the Prairie Payments Joint Venture (PPJV) and the initiation of Project Evolution, focused on enhancing and optimizing the Prairie credit union payments, technology, and support services.

For Alberta Central’s board of directors, our focus in 2021 then was about continued leadership and support to the management team. This included:

Selecting and hiring the new Chief Executive Officer for Alberta Central
Guiding the work around the PPJV and Project Evolution to ensure the continued momentum of these critical system initiatives
Overseeing the negotiation of the sale of Alberta Central’s interest in Concentra Bank, in a transaction expected to close in 2022
Support the advancement of our marketplace connector strategy

Together with management, the board also devoted significant time, effort and expertise to the development and implementation of an Information & Technology Policy focused on protecting Alberta Central and its members against cybersecurity threats. Finally, the board continued to advocate for the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts (DEI) and challenged management to develop a fulsome roadmap to reflect DEI in its activities.

In 2022, the board will stay focused on Alberta’s Central’s role in the operationalization of the PPJV, it’s leadership role in Project Evolution and continued support for credit unions’ needs through the provision of core services. We will also continue to support management in their own evolution to making a tangible shift to building the Alberta Central of the future.

There are many other issues the organization and system must be ready for. These include environmental, social and governance issues, diversity, equity and inclusion, talent management and the rebuilding of corporate culture and community after many months of remote work. All of these are connected to the corporate strategy and its successful execution. The board will also be looking to refresh our own culture as we return to in-person meetings.

Most importantly, as the financial services space continues to undergo transformation, the board will continue to be a catalyst for innovation and change and will examine and re-imagine our vision and purpose in our pursuit to serve credit unions in the future.

All of this will also be fueled through the power of flexibility and possibility.

On behalf of the board of directors, thank you to the Alberta Central team and to member credit unions. We appreciate your continued support and feedback and look forward to an exciting 2022 and beyond.

expand_less

By the Numbers

An overview of the system
numbers and initiatives.

Our System

For 2021, the number of credit union members decreased due to ongoing amalgamations, while system assets, equity and earnings all grew over the 2020 figures.

196

Branch Locations

Credit Unions
in Alberta

3,246

Full-Time Employees

609,746

System Members

$29.05

$2.88

$246.19^*

System Assets in Billions

System Equity in Billions

System Earnings in Millions^*

*Net income before tax and patronage bonus.
Data as of October 31, 2021

Alberta Central

Alberta Central’s work in 2021 included a broad range of initiatives designed to deliver value to our membership:

Distributed

$50,000

in Big Future Innovation grants.

Gave

$25,000

To the Future Leader Scholarship program.

Donated more than

$16,800

to community groups and local charities.

Winner

years in a row Alberta’s Top 75 Employers.

Highlights

Advancing the system
as a marketplace connector.

Payments modernization and system optimization support:

Offered the ongoing provision of services and expertise to support successful credit union onboarding to the Prairie Payments Joint Venture (PPJV).
Provided leadership in a prairie provincial initiative exploring opportunities for enhancement and optimization of the credit union payments, technology and support services ecosystem.

Persistent efforts to understand credit unions’ business needs, challenges, and goals so we can continue to provide core services that make sense:

Delivered Treasury programs that provide low-cost, short-term funding options and enhanced overall liquidity for credit unions. Enhanced the accessibility, flexibility and reliability of the Foreign Exchange platform for participants.
Connected credit unions to emerging industry FinTechs, including Telus Financial, Symend (a behavioural science-based collections platform) and ATB’s Oliu product (offers a digital identity and credential issuance/management platform).
Implemented the third year of an integrated marketing strategy to build awareness of credit unions among Albertans.
Ensured the successful migration of credit unions to the Xpress online banking platform, utilizing a collaborative framework that can be repurposed for future system initiatives to reduce duplication and provide a collective forum for communication with service providers.

Optimize and enhance services to meet credit unions’ future needs:

Consulted with Alberta government on behalf of credit unions on ways to further reduce red tape for financial institutions.
Commissioned research to understand awareness of credit unions among Albertans to support new marketing and member acquisition strategies for credit unions.
Launched the Enterprise Risk Management Network to support credit unions with training, templates and a discussion forum focused on the evolving areas of fraud, cyber security and loss prevention.

Looking Ahead

Supporting success and enabling
the system to thrive.

In 2022, Alberta Central will increase efforts to leverage existing partnerships and look for new ones, encourage system synergies, build stronger relationships, and show greater leadership. All of this is to grow our capabilities as a marketplace connector but more importantly, to support the success of our member credit unions.

We will do this by continuing to provide value to credit unions every day as the central banking facility and trade association and by providing services which are critical to credit union day-to-day operations. We will also continue to guide credit unions in payments modernization.

Looking to the future, we recognize the technology and digital landscape will continue to rapidly evolve and there will be fewer and larger credit unions, so therefore the need to optimize services will continue.

Our work will continue to be led by our five strategic guiding principles, ensuring that no matter what, we always do what is right for credit unions.

We will put credit unions first in everything we do.

We will move quickly from idea to action to outcome.

We will create choices and opportunities for credit unions.

We will take a leadership mindset in all we do.

We will continue to shift our culture towards being more innovative, creative, and results-based.