ATB Financial


ATB Financial is a financial institution and Crown corporation wholly-owned by the Province of Alberta. Originally established as Alberta Treasury Branches in 1938, ATB Financial operates primarily in Alberta and provides financial services to over 770,000 Alberta residents and businesses. Headquartered in Edmonton, ATB has over 170 branches and over 140 agencies serving over 240 communities in Alberta. Wealth management services are offered by ATB Wealth.
ATB is not a chartered bank, meaning it is not regulated by the Canadian federal government under the Bank Act and associated regulations. ATB is instead regulated entirely by the Government of Alberta under the authority of the ATB Financial Act and associated regulations; the legislation is modeled on the statutes, regulations, and guidelines which govern banks and other federally-chartered financial institutions. ATB is not a member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation or Alberta's provincial Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation, deposits are instead fully guaranteed by the Government of Alberta itself. ATB Financial is one of fifteen financial institutions that participates in Canada's Large Value Transfer System.

History

The Alberta Treasury Branches were created on September 29, 1938 by the first Social Credit government of Premier William Aberhart, after earlier attempts to impose policies based on social credit theory on banks operating in Alberta were thwarted by the federal government. The first Alberta Treasury Branch was opened in Rocky Mountain House. ATB Financial is the most significant surviving remnant of social credit economic policies in Alberta.
ATB was the subject of scandal in the late 1980s after clients such as Peter Pocklington's Gainers Foods and the Ghermezian Brothers' West Edmonton Mall defaulted on loans.
In the 1990s, the government reformed Alberta Treasury Branches with the intention of transforming it into a competitive financial institution. An independent board of directors made up of government appointees was established in 1996 and ATB formally became a provincial Crown corporation on October 8, 1997. It adopted the brand name ATB Financial in January 2002, and the Crown corporation's name was officially changed to ATB Financial in 2017.

Financials

As of May 24, 2018, ATB reported assets of $51.9 billion, deposits of $32.7 billion, loans of $44.1 billion, and a net income of $274.6 million.

Awards