Pending SEC Action Forces Broad CUSOWithdrawals

LAS VEGAS - (05/10/05) – A pending rule by theSecurities and Exchange Commission on broker-dealer subsidiarieshas prompted the vast majority of credit union-owned investmentCUSOs to abandon the CUSO model and bring their broker-dealerprograms in-house. “We moved them all in-house,” AmyBeattie, executive at CUSO Financial Services, told The CreditUnion Journal of her 100 credit union clients who had operatedbroker-dealer CUSOs. The combination of the impending SEC ruling,known as Reg B, which will no longer require credit unions tooperate separate subsidiaries for their broker-dealers, andNCUA’s three-year-old Incidental Powers Act rule allowingcredit unions to profit from investment activities, has promptedthe widespread move, according to Beatty and other CUSO executivesat the annual NACUSO convention here. Roy Crouse, manager ofAlleghacy Services, a CUSO owned by Alleghacy FCU, said they movedtheir investment services inside in-house in order to betterintegrate it with their other operations. Beatty said most of CUSOFinancial’s credit union clients will continue to use hercompany to conduct broker-dealer transactions under the umbrella ofthe credit union.

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