Message From The Battle River Credit Union President...

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

      I want to begin my report by paying tribute to our general manager Terry Kelly who died suddenly in May 2009 at the age of 61. Terry served the Battle River Credit Union as general manager for 32 years. He was outstandingly successful in his chosen career. Under his leadership the Battle River Credit Union in 2008 achieved the highest return on assets to its membership of any credit union in Canada. He expected great things from his staff and inspired intense loyalty. Of all the persons I have known in my professional and business life, Terry was the one who was best able to make difficult decisions, and he made them solely on the basis of what was best for the credit union. I miss him greatly and I know I speak for the board, management and staff as well.

      Fortunately we had in place a succession plan, and after careful consideration the Board of Directors voted unanimously to appoint Steve Friend as the credit union’s chief executive officer. We have confidence that Steve, with his 26 years of credit union experience, will serve us well as our CEO.

     As everyone knows, credit markets have been hard hit by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and consequent failure of some very large financial institutions. While our reserves and our balance sheet are strong, we are not immune to the decline in the Alberta economy. We have worked hard to operate as efficiently as possible while continuing to provide the highest level of service to our members. In this economic climate we believe that our earnings of $9.8 million [before taxes and common share allocation], representing a return of 2% on assets, are a very solid achievement.

     I mentioned our reserves. A number of years ago the board of directors set as a goal, reserves of 10% in retained earnings and common shares combined. That was an ambitious goal, but I am pleased to report that it has been achieved, with retained earnings of 4.6 percent and common shares of 7.7 percent of assets. Your credit union has no debts. This enviable position allows us to return an ever increasing share of earnings to our members.

     In August 2009 our credit union went through a massive computer conversion. We had planned for it for some time, but the scale of the task was truly daunting. When it was finished our conversion team was thanked by the computer specialists for the smoothest conversion they had ever encountered.

     On behalf of the Board of Directors I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our management and staff for their hard work and willingness to go the extra mile during a very difficult and challenging year.

Alan D. Fielding, Q.C.
President