FSRA Credit Unions Stakeholder Advisory Committee (Committee) meeting with the Board of Directors
Summary of the Meeting of June 28, 2022
Via Zoom
Stakeholder Advisory Committee members present:
William Boucher - Caisse Desjardins Ontario Credit Union
Allison B Kasper - Copperfin Credit Union Ltd.
Pierre Dorval - Caisse Alliance
Geri James - The Police Credit Union
Brigitte Goulard - Torys LLP
Marycatharine Kusch - Libro Credit Union
Sunny Sodhi - Meridian Credit Union
Martha Durdin - Canadian Credit Union Association
Richard Adam - Northern Credit Union
José Gallant - Alterna Savings
Board members present:
Joanne De Laurentiis – Chair of the Board
Blair Cowper-Smith - Director
Joseph Iannicelli - Director
Stewart Lyons – Director
Brent Zorgdrager – Director
Barbara Bellissimo – Director
Kathy Bouey – Director
Management members present:
Mark White – Chief Executive Officer
Glen Padassery – Executive Vice President, Policy & Chief Consumer Officer
Jordan Solway – Executive Vice President, Legal and Enforcement
Judy Pfeifer – Chief Public Affairs Officer
Mehrdad Rastan – Executive Vice President, Credit Unions & Insurance Prudential
Antoinette Leung – Head, Financial Institutions and Mortgage Brokerage Conduct, Market Conduct
Dan Padro – Director, Policy, Credit Unions and Pensions, Policy
Dan Oprescu – Head, Prudential Supervision, Credit Union and Insurance Prudential
Reesha Hossein – Director, Legal Services and Deputy General Counsel
Corporate Secretary’s Office:
Heather Greenberg – Corporate Secretary
Demola Oloyede – Board Administrator
General comments
The Chair of the Board welcomed the Committee and provided introductory remarks about the importance of sector engagement. She noted that the Board recognizes that effective engagement builds a stronger regulatory working relationship and trust and that it is important that both FSRA and its stakeholders share valuable information through open and strategic discussions. She noted that as part of its governance role, the Board would like to better understand the credit union environment, needs, and interests with a focus on forward looking activities and asked the Committee to comment on the factors or changes in their sector that they are actively monitoring, top sector risks and critical success factors for the sector.
The Committee commended FSRA for its talent recruitment, for the establishment of technical committees and for its efforts in providing more transparent communication as well as its collaboration with the Committee.
The Committee discussed factors or changes in the sector that they are actively monitoring, including but not limited to industry consolidation, profitability and member growth, burden reduction, the future of work and talent attraction, the potential impacts of open banking on the sector, digitization and digital delivery of services and products, climate risk management, the ability to seize new business and investment opportunities effectively, the impact of inflation and the rise of interest rates, and how regulatory reviews will be conducted under the Risk-Based Supervisory Framework.
The Committee discussed top sector risks, including but not limited to, change management, capital adequacy, talent management, cybersecurity, significant real estate market correction, fraudulent activity, climate change, regulatory compliance, non-performance of third parties, and data governance and privacy.
The Committee discussed the sector’s critical success factors, including management of top risks, cost containment, continuing to improve the relationship between FSRA and Credit Unions, making social purpose a differentiator, leveraging technological innovation, enabling regulatory framework, membership rejuvenation, talent acquisition, optimizing the Credit Union organization system, and agility of managing a changing environment.
The Chair thanked the Committee for their insight and helping the Board focus on the strategic issues for the sector. The Executive Vice-President, Credit Unions & Insurance Prudential, FSRA noted that the information provided by the Committee helps management determine the strategic priorities for the annual business plan and looks forward to engaging with the Committee for further input on those priorities in the fall. He mentioned how important it is for the sector to have efficient and effective regulation and supervision to maintain a good reputation and confidence of the public and their members. He also said how FSRA will work collaboratively with credit unions to better understand their business, ensure safe and sound credit unions, and promote a stable sector.