News

Canada weighs going postal with basic banking services

June 15, 2018

A new research report commissioned by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, It's Time for a Postal Bank for Everyone, explains how Canadians could benefit from banking and financial services at the post office, and how these services could revitalize Canada Post.

The report outlines the current banking landscape in Canada, where many rural communities have lost their bank and credit union branches and in some cases, even, their only ATM.

"This report underscores what we have been advocating for years," CUPW National President Mike Palecek said in a press release. "The big banks are abandoning our communities. Canadians deserve accessible financial services and the post office is more than ready and capable of providing them."

Between 1990 and 2017, nearly 1,800 bank branches closed their doors in Canada, a trend that continues today, the release said. Indigenous communities are in even worse straits, with less than 10 percent served by a bank or credit union. What many small communities do have, though, is a post office.

Following a review in 2016, the government charged Canada Post with the task of finding ways to innovate, expand its services and generate new revenue streams.

On June 19, the House of Commons will vote on a motion to study the implementation of postal banking in Canada.

The full CUPW report is available online.