Without a doubt, we are experiencing an unfamiliar moment in time as we navigate the health and economic crisis facing our communities. Over the past few weeks, our organization has seen a significant increase in the number of requests to build and offer new tools and supports for you, in order to provide your members and customers with access to important government programs, like CEBA. We recognize that timelines are tight, and the information is evolving quickly. Thank you for your collaboration as we work to implement these important programs. I am encouraged to see how we are navigating this together and continuing to support one another through these challenging times.

Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)
We are working diligently with EDC, CCUA, Accenture, and the other Centrals to quickly make the CEBA program available to your members and customers. Those credit unions who were either already EDC approved lenders or were on the initial phased lists of new EDC lenders will continue to work with EDC directly to access CEBA funds. We have created a CEBA form for Forge and MemberDirect to capture loan applications from qualified businesses and provide these completed applications for processing and funding.

For those credit unions who were not in the initial onboarding streams with EDC, Central 1 is working side-by-side with the other Centrals to expedite the necessary agreements to enable the rollout of the CEBA benefit program. We will be sharing with you more details, along with agreements, this week. I encourage you to reach out to your Relationship Manager.

CRA’s Direct Deposit via Financial Institutions service 
Our Client Support team has implemented the CRA Direct Deposit via Financial Institutions service on Forge and  MemberDirect for over 140 clients and growing. We continue to see strong interest for this service. If you are planning to implement CRA’s Direct Deposit via Financial Institutions on Forge or MemberDirect, please reach out to your Relationship Manager.

Digital Banking, Forge and MemberDirect 
We recognize a stable and enhanced digital banking platform is more important than ever to you and your members. We are advancing in our development of important Forge initiatives for the Forge Retail and Business suites. Work is progressing steadily on the build for our first Small Business product in Forge and we are on track to test out key features with our pilot partners this quarter.

Treasury and Market Update 
Our Treasury team continues to host our weekly securitization and market update call. For specific Treasury information, tools and resources related to market impacts, we continue to update our Treasury page  on Secure Site. If you need further information or support don’t hesitate to contact our Treasury team.

Our economics team is closely monitoring and analyzing trends, conditions, and important economic changes on the horizon. The team published  a commentary on the Bank of Canada’s latest rate announcement and weekly economic forecasts for B.C. and Ontario.

Payments 
Following testing of additional functionality for remote paper processing in collaboration with our credit union system partners, Credit Union Payments Services (CUPS), we have achieved successful end-to-end testing, including entry into our National Integrated Settlement System. We will now proceed to a full operational transfer test this week pending coordination of schedules between Central 1 and CUPS.

Keeping you informed

From all of us at Central 1, thank you to everyone working to maintain essential services and those who are helping fight COVID-19. We appreciate their dedication and hard work.

I will continue to send you weekly emails to provide you with a summary of our actions and important highlights on how Central 1 can support you and your members. In addition, we have dedicated pages for COVID-19 updates on  Secure Site and Central1.com, as well as daily updates through The Hub.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out directly to me, our relationship managers, member relations, or our client support services team.

Sincerely,

Mark Blucher
President and CEO
Central 1 Credit Union