Historically, one credit union central per province served multiple independent local institutions which were too small to economically build all of their own infrastructure to support ATM cashpoints, debit and payment cards, stock and mutual fund brokerage, online banking, wire transfers and cheque clearance.
That group (and, separately, Desjardins) would then join the Canadian Payments Association, providing its member institutions with access to the clearing house.
[2] The term "league" was employed to denote a mutually supportive organization for the promotion and success of credit unions.
However, increased regulation and higher capitalization requirements, combined with the decline in American manufacturing job creation, virtually ended the formation of new credit unions except in special circumstances.
Leagues also perform the function of lobbying state legislatures for laws that are beneficial to credit unions through the registered lobbyists.