A group of the credit union industry's leading economic observers met with officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis last week to discuss issues affecting credit unions.
Participating in the meeting with members of the Credit Union Economics Group (CUEG) were: William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and members of his staff, including SVP-Supervision and Regulation Julie Stackhouse, Economist Bill Emmons, and Public Affairs Officer Joseph Elstner. Among the topics discussed: affordable lending trends, credit union taxation, mortgage lending, credit union liquidity and the group's economic outlook.
Dave Colby, CUNA Mutual Group chief economist, told Fed staff that historically credit unions are value lenders matching good rates to good credit, and not aggressive lenders looking for the latest gimmick just to get a loan. Credit union taxation and the effects it would have was addressed by Jeff Taylor, NAFCU senior economist. Bruce Beaudette, CEO of Sunmark FCU in Schenectady, N.Y., discussed mortgage lending, while Bob Burell, EVP/CIO at WesCorp addressed credit union liquidity.
