Meridian Credit Union Ltd. is a Canadian

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...

. It was formed on 1 April 2005 through the merger of Niagara Credit Union and HEPCOE Credit Union. It is insured by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario.

History

Meridian is the third largest credit union in Canada, and the largest credit union in Ontario, with more than 365,000 members with total assets under administration of over $28.5 billion. Meridian offers banking, wealth management, credit products and services through 89 branches, and fifteen Commercial Business Centres. Desjardins Credit Union (the Ontario affiliate of the

Desjardins Group The Desjardins Group (french: Mouvement Desjardins) is a Canadian financial service cooperative and the largest federation of credit unions (french: caisses populaires) in North America. It was founded in 1900 in Lévis, Quebec by Alphonse Des ...

) and Meridian's membership voted in favour of a merger effective 1 June 2011. By 2012, most of the former Desjardins branches in Ontario had been renamed to Meridian branches. In April 2016 Meridian completed its acquisition from

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

of Roynat Lease Finance, a supplier of commercial equipment leasing. Roynat Lease Finance will operate as Meridian OneCap Credit Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Meridian Credit Union. On 21 February 2017, Meridian announced and introduced a new line of Visa credit cards, moving away from MasterCard. On 19 November 2019, Meridian won "Best Credit Union" at the 5th Annual Canadian FinTech & AI Awards. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in C ...

, Meridian closed branches and reduced hours to comply with lockdown orders. As a result, however, it laid off 109 members of its staff.

Motusbank

On 17 August 2016, Meridian announced its intention to establish a federally chartered online banking subsidiary. On 4 February 2019 the name announced for the new entity was Motusbank, stylized as ''motusbank''. Motusbank launched across Canada on 2 April 2019. As of June 2019, Motusbank had approximately CAD$54 million in capital.

Recognition

Meridian Credit Union was listed as one of Canada's top 100 employers by ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

'' magazine in 2009 and 2010.

Sponsorships

Through its "Commitment to Communities" program Meridian Credit Union contributes money to local causes and encourages employees to volunteer in their community. The company also donates to national organizations such as the

Alzheimer Society of Ontario The Alzheimer Society of Ontario (ASO) is a care and research charity committed to helping people living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias by: * Providing care, support, information and education for people with dementia * Funding re ...

. Facilities which Meridian owns naming rights to include Meridian Place (

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

) and

Meridian Centre The Meridian Centre is a 5,300 seat arena in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, located at 1 David S. Howes Way. The arena is the home of the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and the Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Ba ...

(

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

References

External links

*
Motusbank official website
{{Canadian banks Banks established in 2005 Credit unions of Ontario 2005 establishments in Ontario Companies based in St. Catharines