Vancity’s values-based co-operative model contributes to strong 2013 financial results

Credit union’s net earnings rise to $61.4 million, assets under administration
increase to $20.9 billion

March 5, 2014, Vancouver, B.C. -  Vancity finished 2013 with higher net earnings, a stronger balance sheet and a higher Shared Success payout to its members and community partners than in 2012.

“For another year, our values-based approach to investing our member-owners’ deposits into their communities, then returning a large portion of our profits back to them, is helping us transform the traditional notion of banking,” says Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of Vancity. “Our co-operative model shows there’s a different way to bank.”

Despite challenging economic times, Vancity reported net earnings of $61.4 million in 2013, up from 2012’s $57 million (a 7.8-per-cent increase). Assets reached $17.5 billion in 2013, a 2.9-per-cent increase over $17.1 billion in 2012, with assets under administration totaling $20.9 billion, a 5.0-per-cent increase, or $1 billion, over the 2012 figure.

Vancity welcomed 24,641 new members in 2013, bringing its total 2013 membership to 501,359. Many of the new members coming through Vancity’s doors are younger people who are drawn to the credit union’s values-based model.

In 2013, Vancity funded its loan growth with members’ deposits. This resulted in a new loan-growth funding ratio of 100 per cent, compared to 39 per cent in the prior year.

“This is significant, as it means our members’ money is staying in the local economy and helping it to thrive,” says Vrooman. “Given that the cost of living will likely outpace income increases for many this year, it is all the more important for us to look beyond financial markets and to organizations that produce goods and services that have a positive impact on our daily life and our communities. This is the real economy and it’s what we focus on in our vision of redefining wealth.”

Virginia Weiler, the chair of Vancity’s board of directors, says: “Our 2013 results show that we can build our members’ financial well-being while building healthy communities. It’s not something we do after generating a profit – we build healthy communities in the very way we generate profit. We want to help build communities that are environmentally sustainable, that are socially just and financially inclusive, and that have a flourishing, co-operative economy.”

Vrooman says she is also proud of Vancity’s Shared Success payout, which in 2013 reached $18.3 million. Shared Success places 30 per cent of annual net earnings in the hands of members and community partners. The 2013 amount is up from the year-earlier total of $17.2 million.

“Shared Success gives back a significant amount of our annual net earnings to members and community partners, which underscores our practice of co-operative values,” says Vrooman.

Return on Member Equity (ROME), a key measure of how much profit Vancity generates with every unit of member equity, was 6.65 per cent. If one were to factor out the 30-per-cent net earnings shared with members and communities, the Return on Member Equity would be 8.24 per cent.

The total investment portfolio held by our members through our wealth-management unit grew by $506 million, or 18.1 per cent in 2013 over 2012, helping to bring Vancity’s total assets under administration to $20.9 billion.

Vancity was ranked number 1 in Canada in Corporate Knights’ 2013 Best Corporate Citizens and recognized in 2013 by Maclean’s Magazine as one of Canada’s Top 50 Socially Responsible Companies. In addition, the BC chapter of the American Marketing Association (BCAMA) named it the 2013 winner of the Marketer of the Year award for its Make Good Money™ campaign.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its 501,359 member-owners and their communities through 57 branches in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria and Squamish. As Canada’s largest community credit union, Vancity uses its $17.5 billion in assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while helping to promote healthy, sustainable communities. Member deposits enable the credit union to loan to other members, businesses and organizations that are creating positive economic, social and environmental impact in their communities. In addition, since 1994, Vancity has given more than $257.1 million to members through dividends and to communities through grants and community investment initiatives. Vancity is a Living Wage employer and a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a network of the world’s leading sustainable banks sharing a commitment to achieving triple-bottom-line impact through responsible banking practices.

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For more information:

T: 778-837-0394
mediarelations@vancity.com