BankThink

Credit union best practices in 2009? Some credit union leaders might respond by saying it's enough just to keep the doors open and the lights on this year.

Amidst the stock market collapse, bank failures, and negative press there may be a silver lining for credit unions. According to Forrester Research's Recession Marketing report (December 2008), consumers "look for brands they know and which support their need to connect to their peers. To thrive even in these economic hard times, brands can benefit by focusing more on demand retention and upsell than on acquisition."

Thanks to Frank Diekmann and the Credit Union Journal's Grow Show for opening my eyes to what the private sector and credit unions can learn from the Navy.

A storm opened up in Britain this week over the planned resignation of Lloyds Banking Group chairman Sir Victor Blank and the "shadowy" governmental organization thought to be behind the move: U.K. Financial Investments. Blank´s is the story of a man who agreed to work with the government during the height of crisis by buying a teetering giant, HBOS, thus saving the system from collapse, only to be punished as HBOS´ subsequent losses crippled Lloyds, its savior.

Check out Eliot Spitzer´s latest column for Slate.com, published today. In it he briefly outlines a problem with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: its lack of independence from Wall Street and the absence of representatives of "the public" on its board. The column mostly focuses on the board´s structural problems, but at the end Spitzer rattles off a list of alternative potential board members whose participation could improve the New York Fed´s impartiality.

Let´s hope the Senate makes more progress on its credit card bill this week than it did last week. Insiders say work on the bill should actually be completed, and we at BankThink are of the opinion that the fewer amendments to it that have absolutely nothing to do with banking, the better.

What does it mean for a retailer to get out of the credit card business?

Editor's note: the following letter was written in response to "Bid Would Deter Credit Card Use" (May 12).

Get ready. Approximately six months from now credit unions across the country will eagerly engage in an annual CU tradition: wasting a lot of money, time and opportunity.

My business partner, John Gregoire, thinks that credit unions these days should concentrate on finding NEMO. Not the little fish in the movie. But rather their mostly middle class members who are Nervous, Embarrassed, Mad and Otherwise anxious.