Credit unions across Canada have been ordered to stop using the terms "bank", "banker" and "banking" to describe what they do.

That decision was announced last week by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).

The federal regulator has decided to begin enforcing the country's Bank Act, which bans trust and loan companies, and unregulated financial service providers from using the terms. Under the OSFI’s strict interpretation of the federal Act, any credit union that continues to use those terms could be criminally charged

"We're definitely disappointed with the decision," said Brad Penner, CEO of Rosenort Credit Union. "Credit unions have been using these terms for many years to describe the transactions they provide to their members."

OSFI says it issued the advisory to provide clarity after observing increased use of the words "bank," "banker" and "banking" by non-bank financial service providers.

The Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) is lobbying the federal government to change the Bank Act to recognize those terms as common expressions for describing financial transactions in a financial institution like a credit union.

"A bank is a bank and a credit union is a credit union, but the transactions that occur are often referred to as banking transactions," said Penner.

Garth Manness, president and CEO of Credit Union Central of Manitoba, said removing those words from credit union websites, signage and all of their marketing and printed materials could cost millions of dollars.

There also would be the added cost of trying to educate consumers about the new substitute words, according to the CCUA

"They're looking at what kind of terms can be used in place of 'banking', perhaps 'credit unioning' or 'financial transactions'" said Penner. "I'm not sure what the word is going to end up being."