Credit Union Central of Canada

Credit Union Central of Canada was a financial intermediary and national trade association for credit unions in Canada outside Quebec that operated from 1953 to 2015.

Created as the Canadian Co-operative Credit Society (CCCS) to serve as a “central of centrals” in support a growing credit union system in the 1950s, it was renamed Credit Union Central of Canada in 1993 to better reflect its relationship to its provincial member Centrals.

Credit Union Central of Canada was wound-up in 2015 and replaced by the Canadian Credit Union Association.

History

The history of Credit Union Central of Canada traces the development of two different but related types of organizations: a national trade association to be a convening body and voice for the system, and a national finance facility to provide liquidity to support the credit union system.

For most of the first half of the 1900s, the credit union system developed at the provincial level, with neither a national finance facility or a national trade association supporting its growth. However, by the early-1950s active members of the credit union movement succeeded in creating both a national liquidity fund and a distinctly Canadian credit union organization.