Business View Magazine May 2023

185 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 5 As a cooperative financial institution with more than 70 years of history, it has helped multiple local businesses thrive in the local communities and has helped to create a solid and prosperous economy. Bow Valley Credit Union has decided to take a step to ensure their member’s financial institution common shares are more secure by backing them with precious metals. At the moment, they are using gold. “I might need more than a few hours of your time to explain the rationale behind taking this route for backing our organization, but it’s becoming a key feature that our members and ourselves see incredible value in,” says Brett Oland, CEO of Bow Valley Credit Union. Oland tries to sum up the rationale for taking this route by addressing the “why”, “It stems back several years. In the last decade and a half, Bow Valley Credit Union has seen an incredible amount of currency getting printed throughout the Western world. What this means is government spending into their societies. This spending has led to the devaluation of many Western world currencies, which means increased government debt. We expect that money printing will continue for the foreseeable future, and we want to protect our membership against major inflationary events,” says Oland. What it boils down to is the devaluing of paper (fiat) currency. “You can go to the Royal Canadian Mint, and they still consider it [gold] a legal tender. And for the past 5,000 years, people have used it for money. Bow Valley Credit Union thinks that by going the precious metals route, the probabilities are much better with something like gold and silver protecting people’s savings, than opting for anything else,” says Oland. Initiatives such as backing member common shares with gold differentiate Bow Valley BOW VALLEY CREDI T UNION Credit Union from the usual local banking establishments. This being said, the institution is always on the lookout to push for more financial freedoms for the people of Alberta. In the last few years, many financial freedoms have been withdrawn from the sector. Bow Valley Credit Union wants to ensure that it can offer more options to its members by becoming less government-influenced and more community influenced. The members have mandated this structure, and they are thrilled with this style of banking. Bow Valley Credit Union ensures that they only provide a financial service, with no judgments made against anyone associated with the members. Bow Valley Credit Union has offices in Banff, Canmore, Cochrane, Calgary, Cochrane, and Airdrie. Each of these communities has representatives on our Board of Directors. The membership votes for these representatives, as they are the