CU Figure Nominated To FHLB OversightPanel

WASHINGTON - (06/16/06) – Former NCUA Board member GeoffBacino, now an executive with Centrix Financial, was nominated byPresident Bush Thursday to a seat on the Federal Housing FinanceBoard, the panel that regulates the 12 regional Federal Home LoanBanks. Bacino, who has spent the last 20 years in the credit unionmovement, will fill the vacant fifth seat on the panel, ifconfirmed by the Senate. “This is a great honor,”Bacino told The Credit Union Journal. “I appreciate theconfidence that the President has put in me.” The appointmentof Bacino would give credit unions a voice on the governmentsponsored enterprise as they grow to be a larger presence among theFHLBs. The credit union movement has failed to gain a single boardseat on the 12 banks, even as the number of credit union members ofthe banks has grown five-fold to more than 1,000 over the pastdecade. The appointment also displays the political dexterity ofBacino, who was appointed to the NCUA Board in 1999 by DemocraticPresident Clinton, and now to the FHFB by Republican PresidentBush. Bacino has had a career steeped in the credit union movement,helping to start Callahan & Associates after his father workedat NCUA, then serving as a lobbyist for CUNA, and later heading theNational Association of State Chartered CUs. The FHLBs were foundedin the Depression to provide low-cost mortgage funding for thenation’s savings and loans and membership was expended duringthe 1980's S&L crisis to include credit unions, insurers andother mortgage lenders.