On 14th October 1952, Canning’s Employees’ Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited was formally established. Every Friday, employees of the grocery made voluntary contributions.

On 2nd February 1953, the inaugural meeting of Canning’s Employees’ Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited (CECU) was held, and Mr. Norbert Grannum, Warehouse Manager was elected the first President of the Credit Union. In attendance were 24 employees of the grocery and supermarket divisions. Within a year, membership grew to 100, shares to approximately $8,000.00 and loans to $7,200.00.

In 1959, CECU signed a life savings and loan protection contract with CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, making the motto “the debt dies with the debtor” a well-known refrain at CECU. Shares reached $40,000.00 in 1959 and payroll deductions were subsequently introduced.

Meetings were usually held at Hilo's premises on Tragarete Road, Port of Spain, and for the first time in the history of the Credit Union, the AGM was held on the compound of the Coca-Cola factory on the corner of Park and Richmond Streets. Notice for these meetings were written on bristol board and posted in the Post Office.

By June 1969, CECU’s share capital hit the million-dollar mark.

Four years later, the three-million-dollar mark was achieved, making CECU one of the largest Credit Unions in the country, second only to the giant Texaco Credit Union. CECU was also the first Credit Union to open its membership to former employees, employees of subsidiaries and to members’ immediate families. Today, membership is open to eligible employees of non-group companies, which meet the criteria set by the Board of Directors.

At the start of Canning and Company, a manual system was used to record all members' savings in a copybook. There was a need to improve this system and Mr. Johnny Chong Sing created a Ledger Card System. This worked for a while but soon became too cumbersome as CECU’s membership was constantly growing. Johnny was again called upon to design a computerised system for the credit union.

In 1977, disaster struck when CECU’s offices, then located at Hilo Headquarters on Tragarete Road, Port of Spain were destroyed by fire. The Credit Union, along with Hilo was immediately relocated to Sea Lots. The Tragarete Road office was rebuilt but the need for more space saw CECU moving into offices at the Credit Union Bank.

CECU, in its drive to continually serve its members, reduced the qualifying amount necessary for building a home from 33 1/3% to 20%; the repayment period was extended from 10 to 18 years. This was so popular that the National Insurance Board granted CECU a mortgage loan facility in 1982, making CECU the only non-banking organisation in the country authorised to grant mortgages.

By 1984, CECU was able to purchase its own property at #10 Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain, operating an overdraft of $800,000.00 So strong was the Credit Union’s history that the bank demanded no security for the overdraft.

CECU further digitised its operations by integrating the Emortelle Core Banking Solution from Micro Software Designs (MSD), moving away from paper-based record keeping to a fully computerised database.

In April of 1999, CECU found another way to help and protect their members as they signed up with the Family Indemnity Plan (FIP).

Fifty years later in the year 2002, CECU grew to be one of the most solid non-banking institutions in Trinidad and Tobago and boasted of assets over $64 million.

CECU signed a letter of understanding with TECU Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited, giving members of CECU the option of transacting business at TECU offices and vice-versa.

In 2012, CECU partnered with Sagicor Insurance Limited to offer a comprehensive medical insurance plan to its members. CECU was amongst the first Credit Unions in Trinidad and Tobago to offer Medical Insurance to its membership.

CECU revised its Mortgage Policy, allowing members to benefit from more attractive rates and longer terms of payment. The re-launch of CECU’s mortgage portfolio generated loans of $7,000,000.00.

To improve its operational efficiency, CECU held its first Special General Meeting (SGM) to make significant amendments to its Bye-Laws.

For the first time in CECU’s history, the Credit Union crossed the $300 million asset base mark with a 7.2% increase over the previous year, resulting in an asset base of $302,243,764.00

CECU launched its ‘Going Green’ campaign making members' statements available online, effectively reducing the reliance on paper and reducing CECU's carbon footprint. Members can still request a hard copy statement if needed.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and event gathering restrictions which resulted, CECU was able to adopt and embrace the technological change of combining a face-to-face with a virtual AGM.