SAN FRANCISCO-Some of the other measures Patelco has undertaken to fix its balance sheet have included:
• Management examined most of its vendor contracts and renegotiated them. Through this practice, Burns said the CU has derived more than $2 million in savings.
• Non-interest income: "We reevaluated fees. We don't like to nickel-and-dime our membership, but we looked at NSF fees and other areas where there are risks and losses associated with products and made the fees fit the risks and losses."
• Patelco allowed several high-cost CDs it had been running as specials over the last two years to run off.
• The CU has increased the use of document imaging throughout the organization and implemented electronic workflow, which saves on paper and storage costs.
• Just prior to Burns taking over as CEO last May, Patelco had shuttered seven branches. Near the end of the year, he said, the CU began seeing the cost savings from the closures - as opposed to the closure-related costs it was forced to bear earlier in 2009.
• As for the one-time bump from the sale of investments in November, Burns said, "Based on interest rates and market conditions, we figured that was the right time to take an unrealized gain."
