WesCorp Recalculates Values On Investments
SAN DIMAS, Calif.-WesCorp FCU reported last week a new methodology for calculating the values of its assets helped trim unrealized losses on its investment portfolio slightly at the end of October to $1.7 billion, from $1.8 billion the month before, but the western corporate also warned of potential losses on troubled collateralized debt obligations, known as CDOs.
The $27-billion corporate told members the 10 CDOs it holds amounting to $550-million continue to pay principle and interest in full, but the credit support, some of the underlying assets, has eroded, meaning WesCorp may have to realize some of the unrealized losses it has recorded on the bonds.
WesCorp told members that despite the unrealized losses on its investments it has the ability and the intent to hold those securities to maturity, so it will not have to report the securities to be other-than-temporarily impaired, and thus, have to take a charge for them.
During September, WesCorp hired an outside consulting firm, Protiviti, to perform a review of the methodology and process used to determine third-party valuations for its portfolio which resulted in the modest improvement in unrealized losses.
Of the $1.7-billion of unrealized losses WesCorp held at the end of October, $653 million was in its held-to-maturity securities. Those securities represent WesCorp's entire holdings backed by Alt-A collateral and the majority of WesCorp's CDOs.
Two Families Prove To Be Good Savers, Win $10K
EL PASO, Texas-Two families who proved themselves over 11 months of saving, budgeting and paying off debt received $10,000 each Tuesday night as winners of Government Employees CU's Savings Challenge.
Four other participating families were recognized with $2,500 awards, in the second annual savings contest.
The winning families were:
* The Huse family; consisting of father Keith, a self-employed carpenter; mother Christine, a teacher at Brown Middle School; and their two children, Gavin, 11, and Buzz, 7, who paid off more than $26,000 in debt and saved about $8,900.
* The Ortiz family; which consists of husband Peter, who was laid off from his job as an avionics technician at Biggs Army Airfield but was rehired later in the year; wife Araceli, a legal secretary; and children, Alice, 6, and Anel 3.
The contest was judged by an El Paso accounting firm, Lauterbach, Borschow & Co., which determined which families did the best job of meeting their goals. GECU gave out a total of $30,000 to six families in 2007, the contest's first year.
Nation's Oldest CU, Newest CEO
MANCHESTER, N.H.-St. Mary's Bank, the nation's first credit union, has named long-tome banker Ronald Covey Jr., as its new CEO. Covey, most recently EVP-commercial banking at Ocean Bank, will be just the eighth CEO in the credit union's 100-year history.
Covey has also held senior management positions at Citizens Bank, Numerica Savings Bank and BankEast, and is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire.
He will succeed Ronald Rioux, who is retiring as head of the $650-million credit union in January, after 15 years heading America's oldest credit union. During that time, Rioux has shepherded St. Mary's through two mergers, grown the branch network from three to eight, and was instrumental in the creation of America's CU Museum in 2002 at the site of the original St. Mary's branch. He also helped create a $35-million affordable housing program for New Hampshire credit unions in 2005.
Covey is expected to join St. Mary's in mid-December and will work closely with Rioux and the board on a transition plan.
Wright-Patt To Pay $3M Bonus
FAIRBORN, Ohio-Wright-Patt CU said it will pay its members a $3-million special patronage dividend on Jan. 15 to help celebrate a successful year. For the first three quarters of the year Wright-Patt grew assets by 8% to $1.4 billion and had net income of $14.7 million, down slightly from $15.2 million for the same period last year. To be eligible for the special dividend, a member must be in good standing both currently and at the payment date. The minimum dividend eligible members will receive is $5-the minimum amount needed to open a share account at the credit union.
