BankThink

At Northpark Community CU we have run into a wall when it comes to growth. As noted in the first part of this series, no, the wall is not the opportunity to grow, it's permission to grow-permission from our regulator.

With the lively debate continuing over credit unions picking up the tab for U.S. Central and a handful of troubled corporates, one predominant theme seems to be emerging: credit unions must pay now because earlier they demanded high rates from their corporates. I take issue with this view.

Financial institutions' e-finance and e-payments innovation will get slower before it gets better: consumed with integration, the largest financial institutions will see a slowdown in product innovation for a few years followed by an era of unprecedented customer control for their financial affairs.

It's no secret that Wall Street isn't too happy with the Obama administration's method of dealing with the financial crisis. Bankers have complained not only about the lack of details in the administration's new rescue plans, but also about the prevailing negativity they've picked up in the tone of messages coming out of Washington. Yesterday, JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon took matters into his own hands , attempting to boost morale in the industry.

A Wall Street Journal article today describes the growing anxiety among mortgage investors that the Obama administration´s new foreclosure prevention plan would make it impossible for them to sue servicers over loan modifications. Meanwhile, servicers cite their own worries about investor lawsuits as a reason for not going ahead with more loan mods. To both groups, a simple message: Get on with it!

For months, network news outfits have doggedly tried to follow the financial crisis and cover it as best they can within their limits of length and depth. But lately the crisis has seeped into features and comedy shows; this past weekend was particularly rich. CBS, Fox and NBC each took the pulse of a different angle of the meltdown.

There Will Be Blood.

I was recently interviewed by Kevin Jepson for the article in the Jan. 19, 2009 edition titled, "What Does 2009 Hold For IT? A Look At One Group's Forecast"

Now I'm really scared!

Years ago, I was the CEO of the Delchamps Credit Union, a CU that served the needs of the employees and family members of a regional grocery chain. At one point, our sponsor company asked that the credit union take over and run a 23 ATM in-store program, which a local S&L was abandoning as unprofitable. This is the short version, but in the end we were running 110 ATMs for the sponsor; our members had surcharge-free access to their money; and it was minimally profitable to Delchamps.