The City of North Battleford has agreed to award a request-for-proposals for banking services to Innovation Credit Union.
The goal, in a memo from Director of Finance Steve Brown, was to get better technology utilization in city operations, and to extend their banking abilities out to the non-profits.
Four bids were received and the city accepted three proposals from Innovation CU, Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia.
The recommendation from administration had been to award it to Bank of Nova Scotia, which offered a superior deposit rate of 2.5 per cent compared to Innovation Credit Union’s 2.15 per cent. That amounted to a yearly interest income of $15,000 per year.
But council instead opted for Innovation Credit Union. The decision was not unanimous; Councillor Greg Lightfoot voted against citing the superior deposit rate from Bank of Nova Scotia as well as a one-time cost of $15,000 to setup online payment integration with Innovation Credit Union.
That meant a potential saving of $30,000 had they gone with Bank of Nova Scotia. Still, council went with Innovation CU by a 5-1 vote, with Lightfoot the lone dissenter.
“I think council saw value in the proposal from Innovation Credit Union.” Mayor Ryan Bater explained to reporters after the meeting.
The city had already had a banking agreement with Innovation Credit Union, which had expired in 2015.
