Gary Seveny, president and CEO of Ontario credit union CS CO-OP, presented the credit union’s position that bank mergers may yield benefits to the organization, as both a customer and competitor of the banks.

Seveny’s comments were made in a speech to the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce considering the public interest guidelines for mergers among Canada’s largest banks.

“We at CS CO-OP believe that bank mergers do not, by definition, necessarily harm customers and competitors,” said Seveny. “We are both, and we recognize that the particular circumstances of a bank merger proposal may yield benefits to customers and competitors.”

Among the opportunities identified by Seveny were the potential for CS CO-OP to acquire disaffected bank customers and the possible acquisition of branches or other business operations from merging banks. He noted the potential for the banks to pass on lower costs to CS CO-OP, which would then flow to members and continue to make CS CO-OP an attractive competitive proposition.

Seveny also encouraged the government to proceed with co-operative banking legislation.

“When analyzing the potential impact of a big bank merger, government policies aimed at meeting the public interest by increasing competition in the financial services sector should be considered,” he said.