Coastal Community
Read the Full Annual Report (PDF)
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2023 Annual Report

Highlights
Vision
Purpose
Values
We will be leaders in building relationships that improve financial health, enrich people’s lives and build healthier communities.

Member/Client Experience

  • We will be the leaders in building strong relationships, by being more helpful and caring, and improving financial health.

Employee Experience

  • We will be the leaders in creating an environment where we say great things, do great things, and where we want to stay.

Community Experience

  • We will be the leaders in making a visible and meaningful difference in building healthier communities. Our communities are our home.
Accountability, Cooperation, Excellence, Innovation, Integrity, Responsiveness, Social Responsibility
We will be leaders in building relationships that improve financial health, enrich people’s lives and build healthier communities.
Content
Content
Hear from Adrian Legin,
President and CEO
As a co-operative organization, we prioritize YOU. Putting people’s needs first is more than a slogan—it’s our commitment. We want to make a meaningful difference in your financial life. We do this by really listening and understanding what’s important to you. Your trust in us is our most valuable asset.
Hear from Dominique Roelants,
Board Chair
Thank you, members and clients, for trusting in the Board that we’re steering Coastal Community in the right direction ensuring we can serve you for the long term. Thank you for trusting in our dedicated employees, knowing their ultimate goal is to improve your financial wellbeing. Without your trust in us as your Island credit union, we would not be where we are today.
Our Member and Client Experience
2023 was another challenging year for individuals, businesses and community groups, and you—our members—have had a lot to deal with. Based on our unwavering commitment to help improve financial health, we continued to focus on our goal of anticipating and meeting your financial needs when and where you want. What that meant for you was personalized advice and enhanced services and products, along with continued support for Island communities.
Service Enhancements
Some of the enhancements we introduced last year included:
Launched myFinHealth, a free digital interactive tool with personalized content
Introduced the World Elite Mastercard with travel insurance options and more ways to earn rewards
Offered a ‘credit builder’ loan to help young adults build or repair their
credit scores
Offered new pet insurance and personal cyber insurance products to purchase direct from our website
Introduced CMHC Multi-Unit Mortgage Loan Insurance to bring more purpose-built rentals to the Islands
Completed renovations at our Tofino, Ucluelet and Chemainus locations and developed plans for our downtown Courtenay location
Supporting your financial health
Staying true to our co-operative values, we’re here to help our members, clients, and communities across the Islands not just meet challenges, but thrive. We do that by providing personalized advice, products and services across all our business lines. Here are some examples of how we made a meaningful difference last year:
Hosting 9 virtual member education events to improve financial health, reaching over 2,500 members with topics like “Navigating the Retirement Roadmap”
Distributing $1.6 million in one-time special funding to benefit community causes across the Islands—funds were allocated from Coastal Community’s exceptionally strong year in 2022
Adding new EV charging stations at our Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Chemainus locations in 2023—our Courtenay location will be next
Establishing a social purpose for Coastal Community to help inform business decisions and community support
Spotlight
CJ Martial Arts and Fitness
The last three years have been pretty tough for a lot of gyms. We had a lot of support from our members, which is great, and Coastal Community Credit Union has been there to support us the whole time. I think we’re stronger than ever now.
Jordy Denney, Co-owner
CJ Martial Arts & Fitness
Your insights are important to us
We value your feedback as it helps us understand how we’re doing and what’s important to you, and take action based on your insights. A valuable way for us to obtain measurable, objective and comprehensive feedback from members and clients is through research surveys of our members and clients, which we have been conducting for decades. Since 2018, Coastal Community Credit Union has partnered with survey provider Sentis Market Research to measure and evaluate our member and client experience across our business lines. Our performance is compared to Sentis’ 2023 Credit Union Norms and 2023 Benchmarks, where available, and our own past metrics. Here’s what our Sentis surveys revealed last year:
2023 Credit Union Year End Report
  • Member loyalty is holding stable
    • We’re seeing improvements across several channels
    • Branches have strengthened their performance
    • Our Relationship Centre improved on key transactions
    • Online banking satisfaction ratings have slightly improved and are in line with the credit union norm
  • Ratings on the business fundamentals (for example, “Looking out for your best interests” and “Providing advice that improves financial health”) are in line or slightly higher than 2022

We also learned that Millennials could use the most support with their finances, so we will continue to provide financial education through multiple channels to help.

2023 Insurance Year End Report
  • Client loyalty is holding stable
  • The ratings for client experiences with us continue to strengthen
  • Business fundamentals have reached record highs, including looking out for clients’ best interests

We also learned that clients would like information about the process for making an insurance claim, so we will continue to provide content on this process.

2023 Wealth Year End Report
  • Ratings on feeling good about investing with us remain stable
  • We’re seeing improvements on providing support to clients
  • Among the top phrases used to describe our wealth team are “knowledgeable, competent and professional”

We also learned that the respondents were most interested in learning more about living in retirement, so we will provide more financial education through multiple channels and continue to raise awareness of our myFinHealth financial health tool.

Below is some of the positive feedback we received through Coastal Community’s 2023 Member and Client Experience surveys that we are especially grateful to receive—and that we are committed to improving further.
Coastal Community Member Survey
Overall experiences:
95%
of respondents who visited a branch rated their overall experience as Excellent, Very Good, or Good
91%
of respondents who phoned the Relationship Centre rated their overall experience as Excellent, Very Good, or Good
93%
of respondents gave Excellent, Very Good, or Good ratings for our online banking platform
92%
of respondents gave Excellent, Very Good, or Good ratings for our mobile banking app
91%
of respondents rated us as Excellent, Very Good, or Good in terms of treating members fairly
Coastal Community Insurance Services Client Survey
90%
of respondents thought the value of their policies for the premiums they paid was Excellent, Very Good, or Good
97%
of respondents indicated their overall experience when buying insurance was Excellent, Very Good, or Good
Coastal Community Private Wealth Client Survey
93%
of respondents feel they receive the
right amount of support from their Private Wealth Advisor
99%
of respondents indicated their Private Wealth Advisor demonstrates strong investing expertise and competence
I’ve relied on the credit union for surviving raising two kids on my own and the years since. I couldn’t be more grateful. In my last three years before retirement now and I appreciate the stability of the long relationship with so few issues. Thank you.
Quote taken verbatim from Coastal Community’s 2023 Member and Client Experience survey
Employee Experience
Our amazing employees continue to work together to improve your financial health. We support our hardworking team with development opportunities and wellness resources for their holistic health.
Asking, Listening and Involving
  • The highest number of employees ever participated again in the independently conducted Great Place to Work® survey. Coastal Community was re-certified as a Great Place to Work® for the fifth time.
  • In 2023 our Human Resources team, in collaboration with the Diversity Equity Inclusion Belonging Committee and our Information Technology team, introduced the option of adding individual pronouns to email signatures.
  • Last spring, a group of volunteer employees from across our organization formed the Reconciliation and Cultural Intelligence Working Group to move Indigenous relations work forward.
Investing in Learning and Growth Opportunities
  • 590 employees completed our annual mandatory courses on topics like anti-money laundering, cyber security, and privacy.
  • 118 employees completed Coastal Connections programs, our company’s relationship building, advice-based service training.
  • 65 employees attended the Coastal Young Leaders Network Conference, “Leadership Culture: The Evolution of You – Navigating a Path to Success.”
  • 48 managers participated in our new Management Training Program.
  • 19 employees participated in the 13th cohort of Leading Edge, our leadership development program offered to all employees. 244 employees have completed this program to date.
  • 18 Account Representatives completed our 15-day Lending Excellence program.
Sharing our wealth of expertise
  • Our experts hosted nine educational webinars to help over 2,500 participants—Coastal Community members and clients and the public at large—improve their financial knowledge last year.
  • Employees across our business lines continued to showcase their financial expertise as guest columnists with the Business Examiner.
Building an engaging, welcoming and healthy workplace
  • To help ensure a high trust working environment, Coastal Community supports employee-led committees like the Wellness and Culture Committees, while ensuring our employees and their families have access to the extensive resources of our Employee & Family Assistance Program.
  • In 2023, 77 new employees attended Coastal Compass Capstone, our one-day, in-person fun and informational onboarding program.
As with any achievement, being re-certified as a Great Place to Work® for the fifth consecutive year is down to our amazing team of employees. Our Coastal team has always been at the heart of our business, and I thank them for continuing to build a collaborative, safe and supportive work culture, no matter what challenges come our way.
Bruno Dragani, Chief People & Administration Officer for Coastal Community
Community Highlights
$2+ million given to hundreds of community organizations, including $1.6 million in special one-time community funding, such as:
$275,000+
given in scholarships and bursaries to support post-secondary education
$216,000+
given in sponsorships to benefit communities across the Islands
$300,000+
in total funds given to Habitat for Humanity organizations across the Islands
$20,000
given to Canadian Red Cross Appeal to help people impacted by wildfires in BC
$200,000
given to the Children’s Health Foundation to transform the lives of children and youth living with physical and mental health challenges
$10,000
given to the United Way Fall Campaign to assist people in need on Vancouver Island
186
Island-based community organizations supported through our Building Healthier Communities Fund and our Community Investment program
Our employees volunteered thousands of hours of time and expertise to causes they care about
The recent donation made by CCCU is extremely timely as our organization is embarking on a large affordable housing project. The need for housing in Canada is at crisis levels and with the generous support of CCCU and their employees, together we will help to create some meaningful impact to help those in need of safe affordable housing.”
Jeff Krafta, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity Mid-Vancouver Island
Environment, Social and Governance Highlights
Building relationships with the broader community.
As a co-operative, we know that ethical, sustainable, and socially conscious business practices help our communities and your Credit Union thrive.
Adrian Legin, President & CEO

In today’s world, considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors is part of doing business. Expectations from members—both existing and prospective members—continue to evolve, as does the landscape of risk, technology, the economy, government requirements and societal needs. From using sustainable business practices to strengthening our local communities, Coastal Community has always embraced many ESG principles. They align with our Vision, Purpose and Values, and an important part of our work in 2023 was continuing to develop and formalize our social purpose and ESG strategy.

In anticipation of this initiative, a Coastal Community team enrolled in a BC-based Social Purpose Innovators program in 2022. The focus was to help us reevaluate and redefine who we are and why we’re here—our core societal purpose. This kind of work helps inform our business decisions and the way we give back to the communities we serve, blending societal good with organizational long-term success. We completed the program in 2023 and embedded our learnings into our Social Purpose and ESG strategy that we expect to finalize in 2024. So stay tuned for more information on our new social purpose statement!

There are many ways we already contribute to ESG factors, as you’ll read throughout our Annual Report. Our clearly defined social purpose will help guide our ESG strategy going forward. Grounded in our core values, this strategy is a dynamic blueprint that will evolve our commitment to sustainable business practices, ethical conduct, and the continual pursuit of a better, more socially responsible future for all.

Governance highlight

We showed our commitment to fair practices by:

  • Completing a comprehensive review of Coastal Community’s Rules to ensure they are modern, up to date with recent changes to laws and aligned with the latest common industry practices.
  • Bringing Special Resolution 03-2023 on these comprehensive Rules changes to members, who passed the resolution. Thank you to all our members who voted in 2023 on the three special resolutions on changes to our Rules. All Rule changes have been implemented, including the new director tenure limits, which were in force starting with last year’s Directors Election.
  • Establishing a new short-term ad hoc Governance Working Committee to develop a robust director onboarding process.
Social highlight

We continued our commitment to social responsibility by:

  • Growing housing affordability through our special one-time community funding — we awarded grants to four Island rent banks, three Vancouver Island Habitat for Humanity locations, the Co-op Housing Association, and Cortes Community Housing Society.
  • Creating a new employee-led Reconciliation and Cultural Intelligence Working Group to move our Indigenous Relations work forward, and introducing the option of adding individual pronouns to email signatures to ensure our employees feel safe to be their authentic selves at work.
  • Strengthening Island economies through support for small businesses, and ongoing community engagement including sponsorships, donations, scholarships, fundraising efforts and employee volunteerism.
Environmental highlight

We continued to find ways to reduce our own and other’s greenhouse gas emissions by:

  • Being the first financial institution on Vancouver Island to install EV charging stations, according to the installers we work with. We built on our EV charging station plans that started with our Port Alberni location by adding new charging stations at our Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Chemainus locations in 2023.
  • Creating a roadmap for the next EV charging station in Courtenay.
  • Reducing our carbon footprint by partnering with likeminded companies, such as our printer, which uses paper made with post-consumer recycled content to save resources.
ESG survey question highlight

In our quarterly member surveys, we ask members a question to better understand their perspective on Coastal Community’s performance as a socially and environmentally responsible organization. Results:

  • 76% of members rate Coastal Community as “outstanding” or “very good” on being a socially and environmentally responsible organization, which compares very favourably against the BC industry benchmark of 55%*.
  • When we add members who view Coastal Community as “a bit better than most” to the strongest scores mentioned above, the percentage of members rating us better than average increases to 92%, up from 89% last year.
  • This leaves 7% who say we’re “just average,” and only 1% of members who rate us as “below average.”
*Based on an annual market study conducted with retail customers of all types of financial institutions in BC in 2023 (sample size=978)
Spotlight on Sharing Our Success with $1.6 million
in one-time special community funding
We received a donation from Coastal Community which we directed towards our Superstar program and our Centre Stage series. Contributions from businesses in the community like Coastal Community go a really long way.
Deborah Renz, General Manager
Sid Williams Theatre Society
Corporate Performance
Your Coastal Community remains a strong, growing and socially responsible organization.
How we did
Total Assets and Wealth Under Management
Total Assets and Wealth Under Management chart.
0.74% Return
On Average Assets
0.74% Return on average assets chart.
$246.7 Million
in Members’ Equity
$246.7 Million in Members’ Equity chart.
The complex economic landscape of 2023 was dominated by persistent inflation, high interest rates, and geopolitical tensions. Many of you dealt with financial stress, and as a strong, stable and secure organization, we were there to help. Your Credit Union had another very successful year, and that strengthened our ability to serve you when and where you needed us. Thank you to our members, clients and communities for your trust in us and giving us the privilege of serving you.
Coastal Community Credit Union acknowledges that we are located on the Lands of the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwaka’wakw ancestors and families, whose historical relationships with the Land continue to this day. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live, learn, work and play in their traditional and unceded territories.

References to “Coastal Community” in this Annual Report mean “Coastal Community Credit Union.”

References to insurance in this Annual Report refer to the property and casualty insurance services provided through Coastal Community Insurance Services (2007) Ltd. (CCIS). CCIS is a subsidiary of 1200089 B.C. Ltd., a company jointly owned by Coastal Community Credit Union and Beem Credit Union, which in turn fully owns Coastal Community Insurance Services (2007) Ltd. and Interior Savings Insurance Services.

Mutual funds and other securities are offered through Aviso Wealth. Online brokerage services are offered through Qtrade Direct Investing. Aviso Wealth, Qtrade Direct Investing, and Qtrade Guided Portfolios are divisions of Aviso Financial Inc. Coastal Community Private Wealth Group is a division of Coastal Community Financial Management Inc., which is a subsidiary of Coastal Community Credit Union. Coastal Community Financial Management Inc. is a licensed life insurance agency offering financial planning, life insurance and investments.

© Copyright 2024 Coastal Community Credit Union