By Andrea Arnold
In a special announcement made via Zoom August 2nd, 2024, Integris Credit Union announced they are expanding to McBride and will provide banking services.
The announcement comes just over a month before McBride’s existing bank – Scotiabank – plans to shut its doors. Last fall it announced it would be leaving the community mid-September.
Integris CEO Alison Hoskins made the official announcement in a meeting open to media and a select group of community representatives, just prior to a public zoom meeting.
After Scotiabank announced it was closing, community members reached out to Integris about expanding services in McBride. The Integris group set up an in-house McBride Business Case working group that has spent seven months researching the need, viability and conducting many community engagement opportunities.
They put forward a recommendation to the Integris Board of Directors, and on July 31st, 2024 they decided to move ahead with an expansion into McBride.
They do not have all the details ironed out at this time.
“In order to make this expansion successful, we will be working hard to partner with the community,” she said. “We know that the next questions will be the whens and wheres of it all. These are the questions we will be working in concert with the community to answer.”
Hoskins said they will be partnering with the community to secure a suitable physical location. They will be setting clear expectations regarding minimum deposits that are required to support a viable branch, and the timelines for which we will need for this to be achieved.
Hoskins and other members of the Integris team will be hosting a Town Hall later in August to help members of the public to better understand what it will look like going forward.
They will be reporting back to the community to provide progress updates at three month intervals. They will be working with the community to create a long term strategy.
Hoskins says they will be discussing options on how the community, individually and collectively can partner in the launch and the success of the community branch.
“These partnerships are fundamental to cooperative banking,” she said. “We want to extend a great big thank you to members, new and future. We have been humbled and awed at the incredibly strong showing from the McBride community. It’s very clear that you all care passionately about the community you call home. You all came out and made this decision that much easier for our board. There is still a lot of work to be done but we are really excited about the next steps.”
Public Meeting announcement
48 individuals attended the public meeting held at 10:00 a.m. Hoskins pointed out that the group was a mix of Robson Valley residents as well as Integris staff.
McBride Mayor Gene Runtz addressed the group following the announcement.
“We are ecstatic about the announcement,” he said. “We really appreciate that you are doing this phased approach. In-person banking is important to many residents.”
Mayor Runtz also confirmed that the Village of McBride accounts are being transferred to Integris. Drivers licences and related items that have been handled by the Village of McBride will also be transferred over and will be handled by Integris.
Dale Stevens asked whether credit unions are insured like banks.
Hoskins replied that yes, deposits of any size are covered 100 per cent.
Councillor Joe Kolida also expressed his appreciation and thanks to the Integris team.
When asked what kind of timeline Integris anticipates regarding a physical location, Hoskins replied that they will work as quickly as possible. They may have to set up an interim location in order to keep from having residents experience too much of an interruption when Scotiabank closes mid-September. However, she also said that online options are available prior to the opening of a physical location. They will also commit to placing an ATM within the community as soon as possible.
Several residents and businesses submitted to the comment window expressing excitement and appreciation to Integris for investing in the community.
Team member Dan Wingham has made his phone number available for any further questions. 250-981-2703.
