SAN DIEGO – The economy is improving, as is the financial position of most credit unions, but one thing will keep CUs inefficient: regulation.
That was the message from Pam Finch, chief financial officer for Mid Minnesota FCU, Baxter, Minn. On her last full day as chair of the CUNA CFO Council, Finch told Credit Union Journal the regulatory load has tipped into the “excessive” category in the last year-plus.
“We are having to document and support our position on what we have been doing, and NCUA just came out with a new regulation on interest rate risk,” she said. “It will require more things from credit unions that are not part of our business model, and it is about something that is not a demonstrated problem. Examiners are going to come in and tell me to do things I’ve never had to do at my credit union.”
According to Finch, the end result of all the new regulations is, “a diversion of resources.” She said CU CFOs, “aren’t devoting resources to take our credit unions to the next level. Instead, there is so much extra documentation required, which gives examiners license to criticize, even the areas that are doing well.”
Asked if she had a message for regulators, Finch declared: “Let us relax, let us catch up, let us go over our business model to make sure we are planning into next year, but let us breathe for a second.”
