NASCAR Legend Thanks NC CUs
WASHINGTON–NASCAR legend Richard Petty made an appearance at CUNA’s GAC to thank North Carolina credit unions for their support of his Victory Junction Gang Camp.
The Petty family started the camp after seeing the good work done by Paul Newman’s Hole In The Wall Gang Camp.
But the credit union connection to this cause goes beyond fundraising. When Petty’s grandson, Adam Petty, went to a bank to get a loan to help get the program started, the 18-year-old was turned down flat, despite his pledging future race winnings to repay the loan. Credit unions stepped in to fill the gap, Petty related.
The new goal: to open a sister camp in Kansas City. Petty said he hoped credit unions in Kansas would show the same passion and support as their counterparts in North Carolina.
CUNA had arranged with Petty to be available for autographs after the general session, but due to a weather system making its way through the Southeast, Petty was forced to leave early.
Hood Just Says ‘No’ To Micromanaging
WASHINGTON–Now is the time for credit unions to demonstrate that they serve the underserved far better than banks do, NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood exhorted during his presentation at CUNA’s GAC.
Hood went on to relate the story of a single mom who was having trouble making her mortgage payments–a not-uncommon story in the midst of the housing and mortgage mess across the country–and could not get any help when she turned to a bank. Her next stop, Hood said, was a credit union that was able to help her get back on her feet.
He also related the story of a young woman from New York who noticed there were several hundred extra dollars in her account. She thought it was an error and called it to the attention of the credit union–who then informed her that the money was, indeed, hers. It was a year-end dividend. “That was her lifeline that allowed her to buy groceries,” Hood said. “This is why CRA doesn’t belong in the credit union system.”
Hood said the agency will continue to work FOM rules and other regulations but that NCUA knows its place. “We should not micromanage credit unions,” he said. “Our job is to ensure safety and soundness.”
One area of concern, he observed, is enterprise risk management, noting that in difficult economic times like this, ERM tools are all the more important, even if they are expensive. They are particularly cost-prohibitive for smaller credit unions, which is why NCUA will be hosting another summit on how smaller credit unions can implement ERM, he said.
Politicos Share Insight On Pres. Race
WASHINGTON–Much to the dismay of some politicos, voters simply don’t appear ready to make a final decision about who the presidential candidates should be, according to two political consultants (one Republican, one Democrat) at CUNA’s GAC.
“Voters don’t want to decide,” Republican political consultant Alex Castellanos said. “They are waiting to the last minute.”
His counterpart across the aisle agreed that the voters appear to want to keep this election season interesting. “If it’s no longer exciting it becomes a grind,” Democratic political consultant Bob Shrum said. “Denver could end up being a bloodless Chicago,” a reference to the last time the Democrats had a “brokered” national convention in 1968.
Both consultants agreed that the drawn-out process the Democrats are going through, in comparison to the much-quicker Republican decision (where Sen. John McCain will be the nominee) is a help to the GOP. The continued sniping between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton could lead to something tantamount to “killing Santa in front of the children on Christmas morning,” as Castellanos put it.
But that doesn’t mean the GOP has it easy, as a result. “This is a transformational time for both parties,” Castellanos said. “Voters are looking for that visionary. The visionary side of the GOP didn’t make it through the primaries, and that could be a problem for us.”
Among the other notable observations offered:
* “If any other candidate had lost 11 state primaries in a row, the press would be asking ‘why are you still in this?’,” Castellanos said, referring to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s losing streak, a streak that would be broken later that same day with wins in Texas and Ohio.
* Shrum referred to the “Soviet-style election” in the Michigan primary, where voters only had one candidate they could choose after all but one Democratic candidate–Sen. Clinton–pulled out of the election due to the state’s decision to move its primary to January.
* “Super delegates were invented in the early 80s to keep the people from running away with the process,” Shrum said. “One of the dumbest ideas the [Democratic] party ever had.” Though so-called “super delegates” are not required to vote for the candidate who won their state’s primary, Bob noted that there appears to be a feeling among the super delegates that they really should, in fact, follow the primary voters.
* “No one ever won by attacking someone for being too popular,” Shrum said, referring to Sen. Clinton’s bashing of Obama as simply being good at making speeches.
* As the economy continues to sputter, both consultants suggested that focusing on the war in Iraq is losing strength to focusing on improving the economy.
Hyland Tackles MSAP, Exec Pay
WASHINGTON–NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland took GAC as an opportunity to discuss the outcome of the agency’s Outreach Taskforce’s work, which included input from credit unions and other groups outside of NCUA through a series of regional town hall meetings.
Among the issues Hyland discussed:
* NCUA must be careful about creating additional regulatory burden on CUs. Although this is always an issue the regulated brings up to the regulator, this time it was specifically aimed at the Member Service and Financial Profile pilot NCUA engaged in to try to measure how CUs are serving their members and the underserved.
* Senior Executive Salary Disclosure: credit unions are particular wary of NCUA’s exploration into disclosing top executives’ compensation, but Hyland noted that other financial institutions as well as other cooperative businesses and not-for-profits already disclose this information, making it difficult for NCUA to back away from this issue (CU Journal, March 3).
* Low-Income Designation: NCUA is looking to change the metrics used for determining this designation to bring it more in line with the metrics used with regard to the Community Development Financial Institution Fund. This change would require a formal rules change at NCUA, so there will be opportunity for public comment on this.
* NCUA’s own outreach efforts: Hyland said the message she is hearing on this is: “NCUA, if you want us to walk the walk, then you better walk the walk, too.” Credit unions who reach out to low-income and underserved populations want to be sure they aren’t going to be “punished” for doing so when their delinquencies start to rise as a result, she said, noting that NCUA must work harder to align what examiners are doing in the field with the policies espoused by the board.
1 CU Brings Own Members To Hike
WASHINGTON–Having representatives from credit unions in the nation’s capital for CUNA’s Government Affairs Conference is not unusual. Having actual credit union members participating in Hike the Hill is.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based Orange County Teachers FCU hosted six of its members at this year’s event, in addition to six people from its management team and three directors from its board. Darren Woinarowicz, VP of development for the credit union, whose responsibilities include overseeing government relations, said it was the first time OCTFCU has brought members to GAC.
“But we previously have brought members to D.C. to meet with legislators,” he said. “The members help share the credit union story and why legislation is so important to us. That is why we brought them to GAC.”
Woinarowicz has been on the Hill dozens of times and has developed a good relationship with the staffers at the offices of various congressional representatives. However, the sight of an everyday person in the halls of power stirred interest.
“They are used to seeing me, but they think of me as a hired gun. The comment that was made was, ‘Finally, I get to see a real person.’ It was said in jest, but it drove home the point of the importance of constituents who live in their districts and vote coming to visit. When I try to arrange a meeting, it might take me a couple phone calls. But when I say I am bringing people from their district, they get us in right away.”
The six members registered for the conference and paid for it themselves, but OCTFCU paid their other expenses. Woinarowicz said the credit union did so for the education of the members, and to make them familiar with the political process. He said there might be a day when there is a hot bill on taxation up for a vote and the credit union will need to load people on a plane and go to Congress.
“Those are the members we will turn to. They are passionate about credit unions and the movement.
“It is a long-term investment,” he continued. “We want to support the movement, and we want to be constantly involved. We sponsored three Shapiro credit unions to go to GAC this year. Ordinarily, those credit unions could not afford to go, but we support the movement on all levels, so we hosted them as well.”
