American Share Insurance (ASI) in Dublin, Ohio announced that Latah Federal Credit Union, an $86 million institution based in Moscow, Idaho, recently converted from a federal charter to a state charter, while also switching from federal share insurance to private insurer ASI.
ASI noted that this marks the third credit union converting to a state charter and private share insurance in the past twelve months. The other two institutions were Eastex FCU of Texas and
When considering the charter conversion as well as the change to private share insurance, ASI explained, Latah FCU's board and management "looked long and hard" at the options available to them to determine how they could best continue serving their membership.
"The Idaho state charter offered many favorable benefits, but if we only changed to a state charter, the NCUA [National Credit Union Administration] could still interfere in our operations through their management of the insurance fund," Latah FCU President Lowell Stevens said in a statement. "We determined that a relationship with a business partner like American Share Insurance would protect more of our members' deposits and give us greater flexibility in serving our members into the future."
Dennis Adams, ASI's president and CEO, commented that more and more credit unions around the country are considering the value of the state charter and private share insurance.
"Like the credit unions we serve, we are owned and governed by our members, and we have a fundamental responsibility to serve in their best interests," Adams stated. "American Share finished 2015 with the strongest equity position in its 42‐year history of 1.70%, well above the NCUSIF's [The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund] 1.29%, and our loss reserves‐to‐insured shares ratio is a multiple of that of the NCUSIF's."
