Joint Message From the Board and Management at gfcu

As is always the case, 2021 provided us both with successes, and the odd disappointment. While much of the year revolved around the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, we were able to also place our focus on important operational goals, and building on our strategic priorities. The primary themes of 2021 could be described as: physical health and safety, financial health, community building, member engagement and strategic partnerships.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

While there was reason for optimism leading into the summer months, with ideals of seeing an end to COVID-19, this was not to be. Throughout 2021, with mental health in mind, a main goal of ours became creating a consistent working environment. This meant ensuring the safest, most comfortable and most predictable workplace possible, in the hopes that such stability would ease some of the emotional stress caused by the pandemic’s ever-changing status. While we adapted policies or procedures to align with health guidelines, staff did not have to worry about job security and how as an organization, we are conducting business during this time.

Mixing our desire to keep everyone safe with the digital transformation taking place at gfcu, we continued to enable and encourage members to bank from home as much as possible in 2021. In addition to what members were already able to do from home, we expanded our digital offering by adding virtual meetings, online document signing, and online self-serve direct appointment booking. These features have given our staff and our members more direct access to one another, and have made a number of services notably more convenient.

In the midst of all that was happening, we wanted to hear from you – our members. We took a number of steps to ensure that your voices were heard, and that our actions reflected what you were telling us. To do this, we ran several engagements with members, most notably in March, when we conducted a full-scale Member Voice survey. These surveys always provide great insight, and on almost all key metrics, members ranked us above average when compared with other financial institutions. While we take pride in such results, the survey also identified a few keys areas that we need to improve, such as better online services and wanting to hear from us more often. Thanks to the notable amount of participation and feedback in this survey, we can further develop plans to ensure that we consistently deliver service in the way that members want and expect it.

We would be remiss in not mentioning the disappointment we felt at the wind-up of a multi-year merger initiative in June 2021, between gfcu and Columbia Valley, East Kootenay Community, Heritage, Kootenay Savings and Nelson and District Credit Unions. While our Board of Directors still feels there is strong value in a merger, we have redirected our focus internally, placing our energy to various future improvement projects for gfcu moving forward.

That said, our strategic direction still places immense value on partnerships and scale. The subsidiaries we have formed with our peer credit unions, Kootenay Risk Services (KRS) and MoneyWorks gfcu (more info on these below) are our proof of concept in what is possible when we work with others. So, despite the recent conclusion of this merger discussion, the gfcu Board of Directors feel that further exploration of partnerships and opportunities remains of high importance. The goal we focus on today, as always, is on building the strongest financial institution possible, one that ensures that this community keeps its access to high quality financial services, long into the future.

Through everything, that is our purpose and our goal – to serve the community, and ultimately improve it, by offering a healthy, member-owned financial co-operative. Together we can accomplish this. Thank you for your loyalty, for your business and we look forward to everything that 2022 has in store for gfcu, its staff and its members.


Teresa Woodruff - Board Chair

Becky Clements - CEO

Kootenay Risk Services (KRS)

KRS was formed in 2014. Coming together to form this partnership includes Columbia Valley, East Kootenay Community, Nelson and District and Grand Forks credit unions, as equal owner partners. The primary objective of KRS is to provide a high-quality shared service expertise for all owner-partner operations. Beginning with a commercial lending focus, KRS has since evolved where the primary services offered are internal audit services and regulatory compliance services.

MoneyWorks (MWX)

MWX was formed in 2012 to create a specialized wealth management advisory service to each of the partner owners. Coming together on this joint venture includes East Kootenay Community, Nelson and District and Grand Forks credit unions, as equal one-third owners. While MoneyWorks has added financial value to its credit union owners, it’s the value to the members who also share in the benefit of this high caliber investment and advisory service that a single branch credit union might not otherwise be able to provide. The MoneyWorks model remains a source of pride for the success it has become.