DBRS Confirms Vancity’s Short-Term Rating at R-1 (low)

DBRS has today confirmed Vancouver City Savings Credit Union’s (Vancity) Short-Term Instruments rating at R-1 (low) with a Stable trend.

The rating remains supported by its relatively low-risk core business, good market penetration in its geographic market and its mutually symbiotic relationship with Central 1 Credit Union (Central 1).

Under the DBRS support assessment ratings system, Vancity is assessed SA-2, reflecting the expectation of timely systemic external support from Central 1. DBRS currently rates Central 1’s Medium & Long-Term Senior Notes & Deposits A (high), its Subordinated Debt “A” and its Short-Term Notes R-1 (middle); all trends are Stable. Support assessments for credit unions are unique in that the supporting organization is partially owned by the supported one, rather than the other way around. As in prior years, DBRS has not assigned an intrinsic assessment to Vancity as a result of the difficulty in viewing a credit union as a stand-alone entity without taking into account its support from the provincial central.

Notes:
The applicable methodologies are Rating Canadian Provincial Credit Union Centrals, Credit Unions and Desjardins Group (April 2011), the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations (June 2012) and DBRS Criteria: Intrinsic and Support Assessments (February 2009), which can be found on DBRS’s website at www.dbrs.com.

The sources of information used for this rating include company documents. DBRS considers the quality of information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating of satisfactory quality.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

Lead Analyst: John van Boxmeer
Rating Committee Chair: Brenda Lum
Initial Rating Date: November 1, 2004
Most Recent Rating Update: August 15, 2011