Continental FCU Looks to NCUA for Help Fending Off Hostile Bid

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Officials of beleaguered Continental FCU asked for NCUA help to fend off a hostile takeover from Wings Financial FCU, after the much-larger credit union once again resisted the credit union’s overtures. Glatt said he was cheered by NCUA’s announcement last week they will review their merger rules to see if they should be amended to cover hostile takeovers, such as the Wings Financial bid. He said he hoped some kind of relief from the federal regulator could be forthcoming, such as an order for a moratorium on the Wings Financial entreaties. “We’d much rather have a regulatory answer, than a legal one,” said Glatt, of the potential for asking the courts to issue a cease and desist order to stop the hostile takeover. Glatt, the industry consultant who took the pilot’s seat at Continental FCU last August, said he was cheered by first quarter financial results, which indicate a turn-around plan may be starting to bear fruit. He cited a 3% ($6 million) increase in both deposits and assets in the first three months of the year, and growth of “a few hundred members”. Net income was virtually nil, as funds were expended on both the expansion plans and on defending against the Wings takeover bid, he said. “We had budgeted for expansion of products and services,” Glatt told The Credit Union Journal.