Dec 7 2006 Media Release

Vancouver, BC – Dec.7, 2006 – A British Columbia credit union continues to stand out among multi-national organizations as a global leader in social responsibility with the release of its latest accountability report.

Published every two years, the Vancity Group’s Accountablity Report provides a full audit of the social and environmental performance of the credit union and its national virtual bank subsidiary, Citizens Bank of Canada.

It follows a rigorous process that involves working with the community to set aggressive targets, inviting external auditors to check how the organization is doing against these targets, and reporting back the results – both good and bad.

“Vancity’s report is one we keep a close eye on,” says George Greene, Chair of Stratos. Stratos has recognized Vancity in the past for its corporate transparency through its regular sustainability reporting surveys. “Vancity may not be the largest organization on our survey, but it truly is a global leader in terms of its exhaustive process and how it uses its findings to improve its performance, proving that responsible business is good business.”

In addition to many awards for the report that’s been published since1998, the report was recently included in SustainAbility’s Global Reporters benchmark of leading practices in reporting. Vancity is the only North American financial institution, and one of only three Canadian companies, to be featured in the study.

According to its latest report, the Vancity Group is doing well in areas such as overall service to members, community giving and development of innovative socially responsible products, such as its Clean Air Auto Loan, while areas such as speedy resolution of errors and employee workloads could use improvement.

“We know we aren’t perfect,” says Vancity CEO Dave Mowat. “We set incredibly high standards for ourselves. This document gives us a report card on how we are doing, allows us to see potential issues and opportunities that may be on the horizon, and helps us build trust with our members, employees and communities.”

To view the Vancity Group’s Accountability Report, visit www.vancity.com/accountability05.

The Vancity Group includes Vancity and its subsidiaries, including Citizens Bank of Canada. Vancity is Canada’s largest Credit Union with $11.8 billion in assets, 345,000 members, and 47 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both Vancity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work. Visit Vancity’s website at www.vancity.com.