LAS VEGAS – Officials with troubled WesStar CU, which serves the city’s ailing casino industry, was replaced last week amid growing losses for the credit union, which bills itself as "The Gaming Employees Credit Union."
The one-time $195 million credit union said its long-time CEO Don Paulson has left and been replaced by Andy Baumann, a former supervisor for NCUA. WestStar, which claims 30,000 members, reported losses of $6.4 million for 2008 and $4.7 million for the first six months of 2009.
The move came as nearby Las Vegas credit union Cumorah CU said its long-time CEO Tony Mook had resigned and been replaced by Paul Simons, CEO of Chicago’s Credit Union 1.
Privately insured Cumorah, which serves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church, had $157 million in assets and reported a $7.3 million loss and 3.4% net worth at mid-year. Simons was asked by Cumorah’s private insurer, ASI, to head the troubled credit union on an interim basis.
The CEO departures comes amid growing turmoil among Nevada’s credit unions. In recent weeks two credit unions, Community One FCU in Las Vegas and Clearstar Financial CU in Reno, have failed and been sold to out-of-state credit union giants.
