Sponsor Restructuring Brings CUMakeover

LOS ANGELES - (06/09/06) – Los Angeles Times Employees wasawarded a vast expansion under NCUA’s underserved policy thatwill facilitate the 69-year-old credit union’s de-couplingfrom the Tribune/LA Times Co., the credit union said Thursday. Theunderserved expansion will allow the $55-million credit union totake advantage of a renaissance of downtown Los Angeles by servingabout 600,000 residents in a five-mile area surrounding itsdowntown offices, according to Bruce Lund, director of marketing.The broadening of field of membership is an outgrowth of a movelast year by the Tribune Co., the parent of the venerablenewspaper, to shed its ties to the credit union, which also servesnumerous select groups in the area, said Lund. In the process, thecorporate sponsor discontinued all subsidized services it hadprovided, including payroll, benefits, and phone services–acost of as much as $200,000 a year. The corporation even requestedthe credit union change its name–as many othercorporate-sponsored credit unions are being asked to do.“They did tell us they wanted us to take a new name, but wetold them, we need some time to adjust,” said Lund. “Aname change is something we’ve kind of kicked around,”he told The Credit Union Journal. “But the L.A. Times hassuch great name recognition in this area.” The credit unionplans to hold an open house next week to introduce itself as acommunity charter and follow up with a more intensive marketingcampaign in the surrounding area next fall.