Kootenay Savings Credit Union
Encyclopedia
Kootenay Savings Credit Union, located in the Southern Interior of British Columbia
, is the twenty-ninth largest credit union
in Canada
with over 40,000 members and assets of $796 million.
The organization has 13 branches throughout the interior of British Columbia, mostly around the major centres of Trail
, Castlegar
and Invermere
. Its subsidiaries include Kootenay Savings MoneyWorks as well as a jointly-owned Insurance group called Kootenay Insurance Services, a company formed through the cooperation of Nelson and District Credit Union and East Kootenay Community Credit Union.
In April 2007, Kootenay Savings' Annual Report parodied Wikipedia
and other online communities such as Flickr
and MySpace
to show how community-run organizations succeed.
The amalgamation of the three credit unions marked the first of its kind in British Columbia. Although amalgamations were not new to the credit union system, they usually came about through smaller credit unions with limited services and facilities joining larger more sophisticated operations. This was the first time three successful credit unions each with a broad range of services joined together to form a single unit.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, is the twenty-ninth largest credit union
Credit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
with over 40,000 members and assets of $796 million.
The organization has 13 branches throughout the interior of British Columbia, mostly around the major centres of Trail
Trail, British Columbia
Trail is a city in the West Kootenay region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada.-Geography:Trail has an area of . The city is located on both banks of the Columbia River, approximately 10 km north of the United States border. This section of the Columbia River valley is located between the...
, Castlegar
Castlegar, British Columbia
Castlegar is the second largest city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. It is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism...
and Invermere
Invermere, British Columbia
Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. With its growing permanent population of almost 4,000 , swelling to near 40,000 on summer weekends, it is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden, and Cranbrook...
. Its subsidiaries include Kootenay Savings MoneyWorks as well as a jointly-owned Insurance group called Kootenay Insurance Services, a company formed through the cooperation of Nelson and District Credit Union and East Kootenay Community Credit Union.
In April 2007, Kootenay Savings' Annual Report parodied Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
and other online communities such as Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
to show how community-run organizations succeed.
History
Kootenay Savings was formed on January 1, 1969 by the amalgamation of three thriving credit unions in Trail, Fruitvale and Castlegar, offering a spectrum of financial services to the three communities.The amalgamation of the three credit unions marked the first of its kind in British Columbia. Although amalgamations were not new to the credit union system, they usually came about through smaller credit unions with limited services and facilities joining larger more sophisticated operations. This was the first time three successful credit unions each with a broad range of services joined together to form a single unit.