Skip to main content

Sign Up Now（https://ccua.com/create-account/） Member Login（https://ccua-login.wicketcloud.com/login?service=https://ccua.com/advocacy-compliance/our-strategic-priorities/）

Toggle Menu

Our Strategic Priorities

Home（https://ccua.com/） Advocacy & Compliance（https://ccua.com/advocacy-compliance/） Our Strategic Priorities

CCUA regularly monitors the legislative and regulatory environment for items of importance to the credit union sector. The topics below have been identified as current priorities and do not reflect CCUA's exhaustive list.

As the national voice for Canada’s credit unions, we advocate for their interests and values across the country. Our 2026 strategic priorities provide a proactive roadmap to shape the environment in which credit unions operate, strengthening the credit union system, and ensure credit unions are well-positioned to serve Canadians now and into the future.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list, and our strategic priorities are designed to be adaptable to emerging developments in the sector. See here（https://ccua.com/resources/2026-advocacy-work-plan/） for CCUA’s full 2026 Advocacy Workplan.

Our Strategic Priorities

Credit Union Inclusion

Relief Program Participation: Although credit unions are significant players in Canada’s financial services sector and the biggest challengers to banks, they are often overlooked when government develops relief initiatives or loan programs. CCUA will continue to advocate for credit unions to be fully included in new initiatives and programs, including economic support programs in response to the U.S. tariffs.

Federal Initiative Participation : CCUA will continue to advocate for credit union inclusion in other programs and initiatives involving Canadian financial institutions.

Credit Union Growth

Federal Growth: For a credit union looking to expand its business via the federal framework, the current process is unclear, time consuming, and arduous. For years, CCUA has been advocating for a clear, predictable, and efficient pathway for credit unions to join the federal sector via (i) continuance, (ii) amalgamations (i.e., the dual application process), (iii) asset purchases, and (iv) plans of arrangement.

Extra-Provincial Growth: CCUA will engage legislators, regulators, and credit unions and will analyze currently legislative barriers, identify potential solutions, and develop targeted advocacy efforts. CCUA will also continue its engagement with regulators and credit unions in provinces and regions that have indicated a desire to explore inter-provinciality.

As part of this engagement, CCUA has developed a paper entitled, Breaking Down Provincial Barriers for Credit Unions（https://ccua.com/resources/breaking-down-provincial-barriers-for-credit-unions-2/）. The paper looks at the elimination of interprovincial restrictions, current barriers to extra-provincial operations, and an overview of possible solutions.

Mergers and Competition: Consolidation is critical to the growth of the sector, yet this appears to not be recognized by the Competition Bureau, which tends to unfairly scrutinize credit union mergers that have no negative impact on competition in Canada’s national financial sector. CCUA will be advocating for the Competition Bureau to review mergers in the context of the larger financial sector to which they belong so that provincial credit union mergers aren’t stalled.

Capital Modernization: CCUA is engaging with the federal Department of Finance (DoF) and provincial Ministries of Finance to advocate for options for credit unions to access capital and enable them to raise qualifying regulatory capital more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Emergency Liquidity

CCUA will continue advocating for credit union access to emergency liquidity facilities, including the Bank of Canada’s Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA) and Standing Term Liquidity Facility (STLF).

Financial Sector Modernization

Regulatory Burden: CCUA is strongly focused on the growing challenge of regulatory burden, recognizing its impact on credit unions’ ability to grow, innovate, and effectively serve their members and communities. Our approach will be collaborative and data-driven. In the first half of 2025, CCUA will engage the sector through surveys, interviews, and roundtables to gather sector-specific input that will be published in a report in Q3 2025. CCUA will also develop an advocacy toolkit for credit unions, including briefing notes, member impact summaries, and policy recommendations.

Anti-Scam and Anti-Fraud: In response to the growing threat of scams and fraud targeting Canadians, CCUA is actively engaged in a national anti-scam initiative and working closely with the Canadian Bankers Association and others in a cross-sector initiative that brings together financial institutions, telecom providers, and regulatory bodies.

This work is in addition to our participation in key DoF and FINTRAC working groups to influence discussions on fraud detection, AML regulations, and other emerging compliance obligations. Further, CCUA supports Canada’s preparations for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Mutual Evaluation Review (MER).

Check out CCUA’s Regulatory Compliance（https://ccua.com/advocacy-compliance/regulatory-compliance/） page for or a host of resources relating to Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Spam Legislation, and more.

Payments Modernization: CCUA regularly engages with Payments Canada to ensure credit union interests are represented as the modernization of Canada’s payments systems continues, including the introduction of the Real-Time Rail (RTR).