Eight of the 15 members of the board at MBTA Employees Credit Union suddenly resigned their positions just hours before they were to meet with state regulators regarding an audit.
Both state and federal regulators were declining to provide much detail on the resignations, but the resignations were reportedly linked to reimbursements paid by the credit union for out-of-state conferences to the eight members of the credit union, which serves the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Regulators further declined to provide the names of the eight board members. The written resignations were delivered to the state's Banking Division as Banking Commissioner Steven Antonakes was preparing to meet with the board.
"We don't comment on examinations, past or present," David Cotney, senior deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Banking Division told The Credit Union Journal.
Cotney said the $176-million MBTA Employees CU is sound and doing business as usual and that the credit union is presently working to reconstitute its board. NCUA spokesperson Nick Owens also declined to comment.
The most recent MBTA Employees 5300 Call Report listed nearly $50,000 in travel and conference related expenses through midyear.
One source told The Credit Union Journal that Massachusetts regulators had recently increased their attention to travel expenses of board directors, leading to the audit.
The 65-year-old CU was chartered as the Boston Elevated Employees CU, and today serves 14,000 members.
Calls to MBTA Employees CU CEO Philip O'Connor weren't returned by press time.
