DALLAS - The $125-million Dallas Telco FCU’s careful attention to expenses and the steady local economy have the CU looking forward to a good year, says CEO Bert Beal.
“We have gone through reductions in expenses considerably and we increased our allowance for loan losses,” said Beal. “We’ve done a lot of things proactively. For the most part we are not looking at portfolios we currently have. We are looking at what’s happening with the national economy as we may catch the other side of the wave.”
Beal noted the Dallas/Fort Worth economy has benefited from relatively strong employment levels and a housing market that has not overheated as other markets have
“Here in Dallas I don’t think a lot of our housing prices are exaggerated,” Beal said. “Some of the large mortgage lenders did partake in the subprime business, and it’s hitting here. But with housing prices being stable, that’s kept us out of the mortgage mess to some degree.”
Should the Dallas market cool off, Beal said the credit union will be prepared. “We’ve looked at our costs for facilities, properties, and our staffing levels,” Beal told CU Journal. “We’re trying to maximize all of our favorable expenses and we’ve been pretty successful at doing that. Because we did that last year, 2008 will be fairly good for us. And we are already looking toward 2009 to make sure we can have a sustaining year if the (national) economy doesn’t get any better toward latter part of 08.”
Managing costs will be a big part of the CU’s preparation.
“Probably our biggest advantage now is rates on the deposit side are dropping but our yield rates on our loans are fairly high. So that will ride us through 2008 fairly easily,” Beal said. “But in 2009, all of our assets reprice. That’s when it’s going to get a little harder.”
(c) 2008
