NAPERVILLE, Ill.-Following its Small Asset CU conference, the Illinois CU League has now launched a Small Asset Size (SAS) Credit Union Advisory Group, including the state's first-ever action plan for credit unions with $25 million or less in assets.
According to Joni Senkpeil, the ICUL's director of small CU development, the project was the result of recognizing "the growing pressures placed on smaller credit unions, and we knew we wanted to step outside of the box."
About 17 credit unions statewide have already signed up to join the group, and organizers hope to garner participation from SAS credit unions in all 24 of the state's regional chapters. Almost 75% of the state's CUs qualify as SAS institutions.
Senkpeil said that there is not likely to be any significant cost involved with the group and its activities, but if any arise-such as fees for bringing in guest speakers-the group may turn to the ICUL's Foundation for support.
The group is led by a trio of CU professionals from across the state, and its action plan contains four specific points:
• Reducing the regulatory and compliance burden
• Promoting collaboration
• Enhancing communication
• Increasing competitiveness
Senkpeil said that one of the group's strategies will be to hold "hot topic" events, both digitally and in person. "This is to make sure that everybody is aware of what's going on in the regulatory arena and to stay on top of things. It's easy to miss a piece of mail or an envelope from NCUA." She added that the group will enhance the resource center that ICUL currently has in place and will address upcoming regulatory changes in bullet-point formats. "It's not a 15-page document they're receiving, but rather a very short overview."
Sharing Best Practices
The group's collaboration efforts will primarily be focused on sharing best practices and pooling resources for sharing vendors to reduce costs, as well as cataloging the availability of low-cost equipment and making it easier to network. Senkpeil added that forming CUSOs or merging back-office functions hasn't been talked about yet but "isn't out of the realm of possibilities."
Collaboration is the area over which Michael Daugherty, one of the advisory group's leaders, is particularly excited. Daugherty is CEO of the $14-million Community Plus FCU, which serves 3,200 members. He noted that "the opportunities for networking and learning for the younger credit union managers aren't necessarily there like they were 15 or 20 years ago."
Some of that, he said, comes from reliance on digital technology, "which is great, but what you don't have is the interactions and the conversations over lunch and things like that, which are really key to networking."
The group is still plotting out its first meeting, but Daugherty said that his goal for the first year is "for this idea of regional meetings to take off."
