New institution seeks large accounts from organizations

KUUJJUAQ – More Nunavik organizations need to switch their banking services over to the Nunavik Financial Services Cooperative, its promoters told regional councillors at the recent Kativik Regional Government meeting in Kuujjuaq.

"If you want to see the success of this financial institution in your territory, you will bank with us," said Rita Novalinga, the general manager of the Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec. "When Inuit work together, we can be very successful."

Novalinga told KRG councillors that the new credit union network can be "in the region, for the region," but it needs more members, particularly organizations who do millions of dollars in transactions.

The FCNQ is spearheading the Nunavik Financial Services Cooperative along with the sixth largest bank in Canada, Quebec's powerful Desjardins credit union.

Since its debut in Dec. 2007, 1,313 members and 12 organizations and businesses have joined the Nunavik Financial Services Cooperative, and their accounts are worth about $5 million.

But the goal is to have 6,000 accounts opened by the end of 2010 and $88 million in the bank so Nunavik's credit union may became an independent, Inuit-owned network, Novalinga said.

So this means more members and more Nunavik organizations, such as the local municipalities and the KRG with its $250-million budget, need to come on board.

To date, start-up expenses for the fledgling network have been less than anticipated, but more education is needed for both members and staff, Novalinga told the councilors.

"The challenges are great, the opportunities are even greater," reads a co-op handout distributed at the KRG meeting.

The immediate advantages include Interac debit cards and recently-installed automatic teller machines at co-op stores in six communities, Salluit, Kuujjuaraapik, Inukjuak, Akulivik, Kangiqsujuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq.

The long-term advantages for members include Inuit ownership of the Nunavik Financial Services Cooperative, Novalinga emphasized.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce – the only bank with a branch in Nunavik – now claims 98 per cent of the region's business and institutional accounts and has more than $100 million in assets, with Nunavik's 121 private business and 42 organizations served almost exclusively by the CIBC.

Switching accounts to the Nunavik Financial Services isn't difficult, Sokchiveneath Chhoan, the FCNQ's economic development manager, told the regional councilors.

The Nunavik Financial Services branches are already open in eight communities in Nunavik where bilingual agents who work out of the co-op stores have access to computers, a fax and a scanner to open and manage accounts.

Agents issue Desjardins bank cards, explain services and provide hands-on assistance to members.

Members may receive money from any source through direct deposits to their accounts.

And they can make cash transfers, pay their bills and open savings or chequing accounts, credit cards, RRSPs, personal lines of credit and home-ownership loans.

Each office also has public computers where clients can learn to make their own transactions.

Details are spelled out in the trilingual Nunavik Financial Services web site at http://www.nunavikfinancialservices.coop.