Cooperative Credit Associations Act (S.C. 1991, c. 48)

Marginal note:Effect of letters patent

31.4 On the day set out in the letters patent continuing a body corporate as an association under section 31.3,

• (a) the body corporate becomes an association as if it had been incorporated under this Act; and

• (b) the letters patent are deemed to be the incorporating instrument of the continued company.

Marginal note:Copy of letters patent

• 31.5 (1) When a body corporate is continued as an association under section 31.3, the Superintendent shall without delay send a copy of the letters patent to the appropriate official or public body in the jurisdiction in which the body corporate was incorporated.

• Marginal note:Notice of issuance of letters patent

  (2) The Superintendent shall cause to be published in the Canada Gazette a notice of the issuance of letters patent continuing a body corporate as an association.

Marginal note:Effects of continuance

• 31.6 (1) Where a body corporate is continued as an association,

  • (a) the property of the body corporate continues to be the property of the association;

  • (b) the association continues to be liable for the obligations of the body corporate;

  • (c) an existing cause of action or claim by or against the body corporate or any liability of the body corporate to prosecution is unaffected;

  • (d) a civil, criminal or administrative action or proceeding pending by or against the body corporate may continue to be prosecuted by or against the association;

  • (e) a conviction against, or any ruling, order or judgment in favour of or against the body corporate may be enforced by or against the association;

  • (f) a person who, on the day the body corporate becomes an association, was the holder of a security issued by the body corporate is not deprived of any right or privilege available to the person at that time in respect of the security or relieved of any liability in respect of the security, but any such right or privilege may be exercised only in accordance with this Act; and

  • (g) the by-laws of the body corporate, except those that are in conflict with this Act, continue as the by-laws of the association.

• Marginal note:Membership shares — body corporate

  (2) When a body corporate other than a federal credit union is continued as an association,

  • (a) its common shares are deemed to be membership shares to which are attached the rights, privileges and restrictions set out in this Act;

  • (b) the holders of the common shares of the body corporate are deemed to be the members of the association; and

  • (c) any agreement made before continuance under which the holders of any common shares of the body corporate have agreed to vote those shares in a manner provided in the agreement is of no effect.

• Marginal note:Membership shares — federal credit union

  (3) When a federal credit union is continued as an association,

  • (a) its membership shares are deemed to be membership shares of the association to which are attached the rights, privileges and restrictions set out in this Act;

  • (b) the members of the federal credit union are deemed to be the members of the association; and

  • (c) any agreement made before continuance under which the members of the federal credit union have agreed to vote in a manner provided in the agreement is of no effect.

Marginal note:Transitional

• 31.7 (1) Despite any other provision of this Act or the regulations, the Minister may, on the recommendation of the Superintendent, by order, grant to an association in respect of which letters patent were issued under section 31.3 permission to

  • (a) engage in a business activity specified in the order that an association is not otherwise permitted by this Act to engage in and that the body corporate continued as the association was engaging in at the time the application for the letters patent was made;

  • (b) continue to have issued and outstanding debt obligations the issue of which is not authorized by this Act if the debt obligations were outstanding at the time the application for the letters patent was made;

  • (c) hold assets that an association is not otherwise permitted by this Act to hold if the assets were held by the body corporate continued as the association at the time the application for the letters patent was made;

  • (d) acquire and hold assets that an association is not otherwise permitted by this Act to acquire or hold if the body corporate continued as the association was obliged, at the time the application for the letters patent was made, to acquire those assets; and

  • (e) maintain outside Canada any records or registers required by this Act to be maintained in Canada.

• Marginal note:Duration

  (2) The permission shall be expressed to be granted for a period specified in the order not exceeding

  • (a) with respect to any activity described in paragraph (1)(a), thirty days after the date of issue of the letters patent or, if the activity is conducted under an agreement existing on the date of issue of the letters patent, the expiration of the agreement;

  • (b) with respect to any matter described in paragraph (1)(b), ten years; and

  • (c) with respect to any matter described in any of paragraphs (1)(c) to (e), two years.

• Marginal note:Renewal

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), the Minister may, on the recommendation of the Superintendent, by order, renew a permission with respect to any matter described in paragraphs (1)(b) to (d) for any further period or periods that the Minister considers necessary.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) The Minister shall not grant to an association a permission

  • (a) with respect to matters described in paragraph (1)(b), that purports to be effective more than ten years after the date of the approval for the association to commence and carry on business, unless the Minister is satisfied on the basis of evidence on oath provided by an officer of the association that the association will not be able at law to redeem at the end of the ten years the outstanding debt obligations to which the permission relates; and

  • (b) with respect to matters referred to in paragraphs (1)(c) and (d), that purports to be effective more than ten years after the date of the approval for the association to commence and carry on business.

Discontinuance

Marginal note:Transferring to other federal Acts

• 32 (1) An association may

  • (a) apply, under the Bank Act, for letters patent continuing the association as a bank or a bank holding company under that Act, or amalgamating and continuing the company as a bank or a bank holding company under that Act;

  • (b) apply, with the approval in writing of the Minister, under the Canada Business Corporations Act for a certificate of continuance as a corporation under that Act;

  • (c) apply, with the approval in writing of the Minister, under the Canada Cooperatives Act for a certificate of continuance, or a certificate of continuance and a certificate of amalgamation, as a cooperative under that Act;

  • (d) apply, under the Insurance Companies Act, for letters patent continuing the association as a company (other than a mutual company) or an insurance holding company under that Act, or amalgamating and continuing the association as a company (other than a mutual company) or an insurance holding company under that Act; or

  • (e) apply, under the Trust and Loan Companies Act, for letters patent continuing the association as a company under that Act, or amalgamating and continuing the association as a company under that Act.

• Marginal note:Conditions for approval

  (2) The approval referred to in paragraph (1)(b) or (c) may be given only if the Minister is satisfied that

  • (a) the association has published, once a week for four consecutive weeks in the Canada Gazette and in a newspaper in general circulation at or near the place where the head office of the association is situated, a notice of its intention to apply for the approval;

  • (b) the application has been authorized by a special resolution; and

  • (c) the association does not hold deposits, other than deposits that are made by a member, a person who controls the association or a person who has a significant interest in a class of shares of the association and that are not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.

• Marginal note:Withdrawing application

  (3) If a special resolution authorizing the application for the certificate or letters patent so states, the directors of the association may, without further approval, withdraw the application before it is acted on.

• Marginal note:Restriction on other transfers

  (4) An association may not apply to be continued, or to be amalgamated and continued, as the case may be, as a body corporate other than one referred to in subsection (1).

Marginal note:Act ceases to apply

33 If an association applies for a certificate or letters patent referred to in section 32 in accordance with that section and the certificate is given or the letters patent are issued, this Act ceases to apply to the association as of the day the certificate or the letters patent take effect.

34 [Repealed, 2007, c. 6, s. 142]

Corporate Name

Marginal note:Prohibited names

• 35 (1) An association may not be incorporated under this Act with a name

  • (a) that is prohibited by an Act of Parliament;

  • (b) that is, in the opinion of the Superintendent, deceptively misdescriptive;

  • (c) that is the same as or, in the opinion of the Superintendent, substantially the same as or confusingly similar to, any existing

    • (i) trademark or trade name, or

    • (ii) corporate name of a body corporate,

    except where the trademark or trade name is being changed or the body corporate is being dissolved or is changing its corporate name and consent to the use of the trademark, trade name or corporate name is signified to the Superintendent in such manner as the Superintendent may require;

  • (d) that is the same as or, in the opinion of the Superintendent, substantially the same as or confusingly similar to, the known name under or by which any entity carries on business or is identified; or

  • (e) that is reserved under section 39 for another association or a proposed association.

• Marginal note:Use of “cooperative”

  (2) Notwithstanding the Canada Cooperatives Act, an association may use the word “cooperative” or “coopérative”, or any abbreviation of that word, in its name.

Marginal note:Name

36 The name of an association, other than the former-Act association, shall include

• (a) the phrase “federal cooperative” or “co­opérative fédérale”, along with another word or expression indicating the financial nature of the association;

• (b) the phrase “federal central credit union”, “federal credit union central” or “fédération de caisses populaires fédérale”;

• (c) any combination or derivative of words and phrases referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b); or

• (d) any word or phrase specified by the Minister.

Marginal note:Affiliated entity

37 Despite section 35, an association that is affiliated with another entity may, with the consent of that entity, be incorporated with, or change its name to, substantially the same name as that of the affiliated entity.

Marginal note:English or French form of name

• 38 (1) The name of an association may be set out in its letters patent in an English form, a French form, an English form and a French form or in a combined English and French form, and the association may use and be legally designated by any such form.

• Marginal note:Alternate name

  (2) An association may identify itself outside Canada by its name in any language and the association may use and be legally designated by any such form of its name outside Canada.

• Marginal note:Other name

  (3) Subject to subsection (4) and section 250, an association may carry on business under or identify itself by a name other than its corporate name.

• Marginal note:Directions

  (4) Where an association is carrying on business under or identifying itself by a name other than its corporate name, the Superintendent may, by order, direct the association not to use that other name if the Superintendent is of the opinion that that other name is a name referred to in any of paragraphs 35(1)(a) to (e).

Marginal note:Reserved name

39 The Superintendent may, on request, reserve for ninety days a name for a proposed association or for an association that intends to change its name.

Marginal note:Directing change of name

• 40 (1) If through inadvertence or otherwise an association

  • (a) comes into existence or is continued with a name, or

  • (b) on an application to change its name, is granted a name

  that is prohibited by section 35, the Superintendent may, by order, direct the association to change its name and the association shall comply with that direction.

• Marginal note:Revoking name

  (2) If an association has been directed under subsection (1) to change its name and has not, within sixty days after the service of the direction, changed its name to a name that is not prohibited by this Act, the Superintendent may revoke the name of the association and assign to it a name and, until changed in accordance with section 219 or 221, the name of the association is thereafter the name so assigned.