The Civil Service Savings and Loan Society launched in 1908 with the assistance of Alphonse Desjardins. It was the first credit union in Canada outside Quebec. Federal civil servants were prompted by an article in their magazine The Civilian, when it reported on loan sharks charging civil servants up to 200% for payday loans. After the Government of Ontario passed a credit union law in 1928, the Ottawa-based institution was re-chartered as the Civil Service Co-operative Credit Society, which later operated as CS CO-OP.
Metro Credit Union
Metro Credit Union was incorporated 30 August 1949 as the University of Toronto Employees' Credit Union. It became the University and Colleges Credit Union in 1975, which later operated as Unicoll. Over the years it absorbed a variety of smaller credit unions, primarily ones that served universities, colleges or hospitals. It became a community bond credit union, open to all residents of Toronto, in 1994. Gary H. Gillam, a leader of the credit union until his death in 1993, shaped Metro Credit Union's reputation as a pioneer in socially responsible investing. Alterna continues to operate a microcredit fund for disadvantaged Toronto entrepreneurs, and was one of the first financial institutions in Canada to perform regular social audits. CS CO-OP and Metro were active participants in the negotiations of 12 credit unions across the country for a national co-operative bank in 1998. Though these negotiations were unsuccessful, they opened a door for CS CO-OP, under the leadership of Gary Seveny, to secure a bank charter for its subsidiary CS Loan Corporation, established as a Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation member in 1992. The new bank was launched as CS Alterna Bank in October 2000 to offer service across Canada. After merging with Metro, the parent organization adopted the Alterna name.
Expansion
The Ottawa Women's Credit Union formed in 1980 to provide financial products, services and training based on the philosophy of women helping women to become financially autonomous. The credit union was founded by Lynne Markell, Aline Akeson and Dorothy O'Connell after they recognized that the best way to help low income women in the Ottawa area was with a member-owned financial co-operative managed by and for women. The members voted to merge with Alterna Savings to form its Centretown branch in October 2013. Nexus Community Savings and Peterborough Community Savings voted to merge with Alterna in 2016, adding ten branches to the credit union. On 1 December 2018, the Toronto Municipal Employees' Credit Union merged with Alterna Savings: it remains a separate division operating as Toronto Municipal Employees' Savings. On 1 May 2018, City Savings and Credit Union in Toronto merged with Alterna Savings. Alterna was one of the first financial institutions to make loans to businesses focusing on cannabis in Canada following its legalization, providing primary banking services for approximately two-thirds of the hundred licensed growers in 2018.
