For the third year in a row, an independent survey of thousands of Canadians has shown that credit unions rank first in overall quality of customer service.

“We are pleased that Synovate’s research has again confirmed that Canadians prefer credit unions’ focus on the needs of their members,” said David Phillips, president and CEO of Credit Union Central of Canada, in a release.

The 2007 Synovate Customer Service Index found credit unions ranked ahead of all banks and other financial institutions in the following categories: Overall quality of customer service; Values “my” business; Staff service at “my” branch; Information handling and communications; and Financial products and services.

The survey was carried out among a sample of 17,500 regionally and demographically representative Canadians between July 3 and August 13. The survey has been conducted annually since 1987.

The 479 credit unions affiliated with Canadian Central have assets of $96 billion and five million members. Credit unions are provincially regulated financial institutions owned by their member/customers.

Synovate is the market research arm of Aegis Group plc. It employs more than 5,700 staff in 118 cities across 52 countries.