PHOENIX-It wasn't just the economy that chopped down some of the largest corporate credit unions. They can thank their desire to become large, and their lack of collaboration and competitiveness.
That's the stance of FirstCorp CU COO Stacy Glidden, who contends that the some of the corporate credit unions could have mitigated some of their problems. "The corporate system is seriously challenged when it comes to collaboration," said Glidden. "That is, coming peer to peer and saying you are the senior partner and you are the junior partner and let the senior partner run the show. There are too many egos involved, too many resources at stake, so the collaboration is repeatedly shut down."
Two years ago, if the corporates knew what they know now, Glidden said there would have been a great deal of collaboration, since many corporates are using legacy systems and infrastructure that are obsolete and expensive.
The collaboration would have also relieved a lot of the competitiveness, added Glidden, noting. "FirstCorp is a diamond in the desert with all of the big boys salivating to suck us in. They are on our toes all the time trying to get the business of our credit unions, who are a little bit larger than the average bear."
It was the goals of individuals that got in the way, concluded Glidden. "It was about gaining market share and territory and becoming bigger and bigger. I think many corporates stopped focusing on their core competencies and got very sophisticated. And when you get that sophisticated there is a big dollar amount associated with it. So you do need to have more people consuming your services or buying your investments in order to pay for a very large machine you have become."
