CS Alterna Bank (), operating as Alterna Bank (), is a Canadian

direct bank A direct bank (sometimes called a branch-less bank or virtual bank) is a bank that offers its services only via the Internet, mobile app, email, and other electronic means, often including telephone, online chat, and mobile check deposit. A direct ...

and a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

of the Ontario-based

credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...

Alterna Savings. The bank offers chequing and high-interest savings accounts and mortgages. Operating primarily as a

since 2017, most customers access accounts using the bank's website, telephone service, and mobile apps. Unlike most other direct banks, some accounts can also be accessed through branches. There are four Alterna Bank ATM locations in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

and some in

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and Alterna Savings branches also administer deposits and loans on its behalf, to which the bank outsources most of its processes. Customers can make debit purchases using their access cards, write cheques, and make surcharge-free transactions at

automated teller machines Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

within The Exchange Network. Its flexibility has brought it attention from publications such as ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' as a sound alternative to the

Big Five banks Big Five is the name colloquially given to the five largest banks that dominate the banking industry of Canada: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Scotiabank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Toronto-Dominion Bank ...

. The bank originated as the Civil Service Loan Corporation, founded 29 October 1992 and operating as CS Loan Corporation. It became CS Alterna Bank after receiving

letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

of continuation on 2 October 2000 as a federally regulated institution under the ''Bank Act''. It continues to use the same institution number (#608). Its parent organization, the Civil Service Co-operative Credit Society, operated as CS CO-OP. The merger of CS CO-OP and Metro Credit Union in 2005 created Alterna Savings, adopting its subsidiary's name. Alterna Bank is a member of

Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation The Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC; ) is a Canadian federal Crown Corporation created by Parliament in 1967 to provide deposit insurance to depositors in Canadian commercial banks and savings institutions. CDIC insures Canadians' de ...

(CDIC).

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* {{Authority control Banks of Canada Banks established in 1992 1992 establishments in Ontario Companies based in Ottawa Alterna Savings Online banks

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