2022 Annual Report
Highlights
We will be the 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
Hear from Adrian Legin,
President and CEO
We believe improving financial health is a unique conversation of where you’re at. Wherever you may be in your financial health journey, we’ll find ways to help you to improve that.
Hear from Susanne Jakobsen,
Board Chair
Whether we are reviewing our Rules, responding to member concerns or setting the course for the future, our goal as directors is to be fair, transparent and responsive, while following all governance and regulatory policies.
Service Enhancements
Improving service delivery
Opened a new modern location in Port Alberni, with all our business divisions under one roof
Launched new paperless delivery options for insurance clients
Offered a new online property insurance quote tool and online insurance payment capability
Brought self-serve appointment booking to business members
Developed a complaints handling process to ensure your concerns are handled in a fair and consistent manner
Meeting your needs
Providing innovation, expertise and advice
We’re here to help you thrive through good times and bad. Last year we made a meaningful difference in your financial life by:
Launching Qtrade Guided Portfolios, an innovative digital advice platform for emerging investors (in partnership with Qtrade, a cooperatively owned, leading online brokerage)
Hosting 12 Virtual Member Education events to improve financial health on topics such as “4 Steps to Financial Health” and “10 Steps to Creating a Meaningful Will”
Helping another 1,000 people (approximately) get a personalized snapshot of their financial health through our Financial Health Quiz
Expanding Coastal Community’s insurance services to our Chemainus location
Supporting the growth of island economies through the local business community, which resulted in achieving a record year for commercial loan growth for your Credit Union
Listening to you
Arrowsmith Search and Rescue
The financial security that Coastal Community Credit Union was able to bring to us has not only brought this building to an operational status, giving our volunteers a home, but it’s given us a platform to propel into the future with exponential growth. It’s ensured the success of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue.
Nick Rivers, President,
Arrowsmith Search and Rescue
Listening to you
What matters to you matters to us
We’re here because of the trust you place in us, and we listen and act on what you tell us. Through our member and client quarterly surveys, here are some areas you’ve let us know are stable, some that have improved and some that we can continue to address going forward.
Stable results
Eight-in-ten continue to rate Coastal Community Credit Union as “easy to do business with”
Improving results
Over the past three years, our insurance division has continued to see steady improvement across key metrics, such as in clients giving favorable ratings to our insurance products meeting needs and feeling they got good value for the premiums paid
Areas to address
Despite updates to our app and online banking, our digital scores decreased. We will continue to work on our digital experience going forward, including reducing downtime due to third party partners
CCCU Member Survey
Here are some of the top results from Coastal Community's Member survey and our Coastal Community Insurance Services (CCIS) and Coastal Community Private Wealth Group (CCPWG) client surveys.
CCCU Member Survey
Coastal Community Insurance Services Client Survey
91%
of insurance respondents found us easy to use
Coastal Community Private Wealth Client Survey
95%
of respondents gave favourable ratings about feeling in good hands with Coastal Community
I appreciate our small town feel and like that I am known when I go into the branch. Also, our local branch was very accommodating when it came time for me to exercise power of attorney over my elderly mother’s financial affairs and get her switched over from another institution. I appreciated all the time and expertise from the Credit Union employees and how easy they made it for us.”
Quote taken verbatim from Coastal Community’s 2022 Member and Client Experience survey
Understanding the Employee Perspective
- Employees participated again in the independently reviewed Great Place to Work® survey. Coastal Community was re-certified as a Great Place to Work® for the fourth time.
- CCCU leadership held multiple regional townhall meetings to connect with employees and deepen their understanding of Coastal Community’s strategic plan. These gatherings also provided an opportunity for employees to share their valuable insights and perspectives.
- In 2022, an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action policy and strategy were created. In addition, new advocates joined our employee resource group championing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging initiatives at Coastal Community.
Investing in Learning and Growth Opportunities
- 225+ employees took part in Indigenous cultural competency training last year.
- 62 participants learned about “Building Relationships in a Digital World” at the 2022 Coastal Young Leaders Network (CYLN) conference.
- 28 managers went through our new Management Training Program, developed in partnership with Vancouver Island University to grow key people management skills.
Sharing our wealth of expertise
- Our experts hosted 12 educational webinars to help over 1,500 participants 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, fun & healthy workplace
- We continued to ensure a high trust working environment through employee-led committees like the Wellness and Culture Committees, while ensuring our staff have access to the extensive resources of our Employee Assistance Program.
- New employees were welcomed to the company in person this year at our fun and informative Capstone events.
I really enjoyed the conference and preparation/collaboration process. Hosting this conference was definitely one of the highlights of my career at CCCU. I really appreciate the opportunity that CCCU provides for us to hone our leadership skills and make a difference in this way.
Petra Rakiea, Assistant Manager, Relationship Centre and an organizer of the CYLN conference
$25,000
given in scholarships to support post-secondary education for local students
Over $150,000
given in corporate sponsorships to benefit communities across the islands
$90,000
awarded to grassroots community organizations through the Relief and Resiliency Fund and our Community Investment program
$10,000
given to support the renovation of Victoria Cool Aid Society's Downtown Community Centre
$10,000
raised for the Children’s Health Foundation through our Sunset Cinema series in local parks
Our employees volunteered
thousands of hours
of time and expertise to causes they care about
Coastal Community’s scholarship program is really unique in that it aligns with our values in giving back to Island communities. Students are invited to apply by developing a project plan that identifies a way that they can give back. In this way, we really believe that the program offers the opportunity for the broadest range of students to apply and get support for their post-secondary education.
Allyson Prescesky, Senior Manager, Community and Communications
Promoting and improving the health of our Island communities with sustainable business practices is an important part of how we strengthen the broader community.
As a financial co-operative, Coastal Community is deeply committed to its core value of social responsibility, along with accountability, co-operation, excellence, innovation, integrity and responsiveness. Concern for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues is baked into our DNA.
You’ll read about some of the ways we take action on ESG principles throughout this report. We’ll highlight a few examples here, including sustainable construction practices used in the build of our new Port Alberni location. You’ll also learn how we moved forward on the path of Reconciliation by bringing Indigenous cultural competency training to our employees in 2022, and that our Board of Directors enhanced governance through a comprehensive review of Coastal Community’s Rules.
There are many other ways we contribute to ESG factors, yet we know that there is much more to be done. Along with your growing expectations of us, the landscape of risk, governance requirements, and societal needs continues to evolve. An important priority for us is to continue to develop and formalize our ESG strategy. Following best practices, this past year we began the process of reevaluating and redefining our core societal purpose – who we are and why we are here. We’re doing this work with other like-minded organizations through a BC-based Social Purpose Innovators Program. This ongoing work on defining our social purpose will help guide our ESG strategy in the years to come.
Environmental highlight:
We continue to utilize sustainable construction practices, such as:
- Replacing inefficient and high energy usage HVAC equipment with new energy efficient systems;
- Using low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint to reduce carbon emissions; and
- Purchasing furniture made from recycled materials such as ocean-bound plastic, allowing us to contribute to a broader initiative that diverts 150 metric tons of plastic from the ecosystem annually.
Social highlight:
We continued our commitment to social responsibility by:
- Helping to foster a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives and cultural differences through training delivered by Indigenous Perspectives Society to all levels of our organization;
- Supporting our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee, made up of employees from throughout our organization; and
- Strengthening island economies through support for small businesses, and ongoing community engagement including sponsorships, donations, scholarships, fundraising efforts and employee volunteerism.
Governance highlights:
We showed our commitment to strong governance by:
- Ensuring we follow best practices for sales, access to services, transparency and openness by developing and adopting a Market Conduct Code, which includes a policy and procedures for handling complaints in a fair and consistent manner;
- Becoming members with the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) to give our members a further avenue to escalate complaints that remain unresolved; and
- Completing the review of Coastal Community’s Rules, ensuring they are modern, up to date with recent changes to laws, and aligned to the latest best practices.
New ESG question in member survey
In 2022, we introduced a new question into our quarterly member surveys to better understand your perspective on Coastal Community’s performance as a socially and environmentally responsible organization. Results:
- 71% 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 89%.
- This leaves 10% 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 2022 (sample size=1,189)
Spotlight on
Scholarship Winner Emmy Lan
I think community is a really important thing growing up, and it really shapes who you are as a person. Having people around you who can inspire you and you can inspire them is an awesome way to grow as a person.
CCCU Scholarship winner Emmy Lan
Last year was marked by inflation, global conflict and tumbling markets, and we know that many of you faced financial challenges. Your Credit Union had a very strong year, and that meant we were well positioned to help you with your full financial picture, from opening a business to setting yourself up for retirement. Last year’s exceptional results were driven primarily by your trust and commitment to do business with us and the hard work and dedication of our employees, as well as the impact of multiple interest rate increases as the Bank of Canada tried to tame inflation. Thank you to our members, clients and communities for your trust in us and giving us the privilege of serving you.
$4.2 Billion
Assets Under Management
Almost
0.82% return
On Average Assets
$222.2 million
in Members’ Equity
Coastal Community Credit Union acknowledges that we are located on the Lands of the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakiutl 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.