'Banks Have Learned From CUs,' Other 'Writing On The Wall' Shared

Published September 26, 2008, 1:08 p.m. EDT

Updated August 27, 2020, 1:02 a.m. EDT

2 Min Read

DALLAS - A wide variety of views, insights and observations were offered by credit union leaders and other analysts during the 2008 ALM First Financial Advisors Financial Forum here. Among them:

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* Diana Dykstra, CEO of San Francisco Firefighters Credit Union, spoke to the issue of member growth and warned that banks have learned from credit unions and improved customer service. "Customer intimacy doesn't just belong to credit unions anymore. We can't just be marginally better. We need to figure out how to be unique, how to be different, how to bring value. The world has changed on us-and we must pay attention and be willing to shift with it."

* Chris Low, chief economist from FTN Financial, said what has driven consumer confidence to lows not seen since 1990, it isn't due to the price of gas or the war in Iraq or a distrust of Congress, but instead to the declines in income. "Not just unemployment, but underemployment, where they work below their skill and income levels," said Low. "People aren't finding jobs with income growth."

* Joseph Prunty, president of CorePROFIT Solutions Inc., spoke to the issue of better member service and offered that, on average, 20% of a credit union's members will generate 150% of its earnings. "These members are your franchise-they add value every day. No credit union today should not know who these members are. If members leave, it is very hard and expensive to replace them."

* Torsten Slok, director of US Economics for Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., observed that shifts in consumer wealth - both up and down - have very little relationship to consumer saving. "When there was a huge move up in wealth, why did savings go down? We don't have a good handle on it. U.S. households have just started to save again-a little bit, at 2%-but we have to save more."

* Tom Manley, Partner at ALM First, said that the failure of Bear Stearns has set in place different mechanisms and oversight by the Federal Reserve in terms of broker-dealers. "We all can see the writing on the wall. There will be a pretty big change in the regulatory environment over the next 10 years. How much this will impact credit unions, I don't know. But credit unions have managed very well, with very few realized losses. We're an industry that doesn't have nearly as many problems as the rest of the financial community."