New year brings new name for Caisse Populaire

A credit union merger that officially took effect on Jan. 1, has seen a name change for a storied institution.

Caisse Populaire, a full-service financial institution with 19 branches and more than 35,000 members merged with Assiniboine Credit Union (17 branches and 140,000 members) and Westoba Credit Union (13 branches and 38,000 members.)

The organization will be known in English as Assiniboine Credit Union and in French as Caisse Populaire Assiniboine.

Caisse Populaire was established in St Malo in 1937 with 29 members and $96.85 in assets and was the first financial cooperative to be officially registered in Manitoba.

In 2010, all Manitoba caisses merged to form Caisse Financial Group.

The first caisse was established in Levis, Quebec in 1900 by Alphonse Desjardins who modelled it after the savings and credit unions in Europe which were supported by the Catholic church.