Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli believes the big banks will be on board to change legislation which right now prevents them from partnering with credit unions on bank-led loans.
The proposed legislation will be debated during this session of Parliament now that Queen’s Park is back in session.
Fedeli says credit unions continue to grow and are becoming very important financial institutions in the communities where they are located.
“This will open the door into letting them in to participate with the bank-led deals,” Fedeli said.
Fedeli says in the past when a bank wanted to expand the scope of a loan, it approached a credit union, but it wasn’t able to complete the deal because of the current legislation.
Fedeli says the legislation is just one piece of red tape among the 380,000 pieces of legislation that currently exists.
“This piece of red tape stops their (credit unions’) growth, stops their development and hurts our businesses and non-profits in town who are financed by federally-regulated banks,” Fedeli said.
Fedeli says he learned about the current legislation while serving in the Opposition as finance critic during budget consultations.
He says it’s a matter the credit unions would raise at the consultations.
“So we decided this is an area where we really have to focus our attention and help the credit unions become even stronger,” Fedeli said.
