All societies must open their own bank account at the same financial institution as SMUSA, which is currently the Royal Bank of Canada branch located on the corner of Spring Garden Rd. and Summer St.

SETTING UP YOUR ACCOUNT

Class A, B, and C societies are required to create and maintain society bank accounts. Before you attempt to open a new bank account, you should:

1. Contact the SMUSA Society Coordinator (See contact info underthe  Society Coordinator Contact page). They will assist you in finding whether your society has an account in existence and can help you gain access to any remaining balances.

2. Societies are required to obtain a letter template from SMUSA’s Society Coordinator to either open a new account or to take responsibility for an existing account.

3. An appointment with our local branch representative (Maureen Kimani) must be organized to obtain the client card and officially transfer signing authorities.  You must bring two pieces of ID (one being your student card), and the confirmation letter.  The Society Coordinator can help you with this.

A new society bank account must:

• be a Commercial/Business account (Royal Business Community Account) under the name of the society preceded by the phrase “Saint Mary’s University” (e.g. The Saint Mary’s University Commerce Society)

• have a minimum of two signing authorities from the executive of the society, with a required minimum of two signatures on any cheque to be cashable.

CLIENT CARD & CHEQUES

The RBC Client Card must have its limits set to $0.00 and the Client Card can be used to acquire an RBC Agent Card. The Agent Card is used to deposit only. Societies are not allowed to make withdrawals using a Client Card. Once the Agent Card is acquired, each society is required to submit their Client Card to SMUSA where they are filed in the Society Coordinator’s office. Since the Agent Card allows for deposit only, Societies are required to instead use a chequing account for all payment transactions and each cheque requires a minimum of two signatures.

MEMBERSHIP FEES

In order to accumulate money in a Society bank account, all Societies must collect a membership fee of at least $5 from each member.