NEW ORLEANS -
Those were just two of the issues debated last week during an NCUA Outreach Task Force "Town Hall" Meeting held here. The challenge to larger CUs to earn a low-income designation was raised by Michelle Duhe, a former NCUA examiner who's now CEO of Coastland FCU, Metarie, La. Finding other ways to measure the criteria used to award that designation may allow more credit unions to serve families of modest means, she suggested.
Getting Families In The Door
Getting those families in the door is one of the most difficult challenges facing all CUs, said Steve Pollman, CEO of Magnolia FCU, Jackson, Miss. Simple services, like payday loans, may build member loyalty, increasing credit unions' abilities to serve, he added.
The Town Hall Meeting, held in conjunction with the National Federation of Community Development CU's annual Serving the Underserved Conference here, drew 84 credit union officials, who were part of the third of what will be six town hall meetings scheduled for different dates and U.S. locations throughout 2007.
"This is an opportunity for NCUA to get credit union input on the issues that the Outreach Task Force is considering," said NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland, who's spearheading the effort. "These are meant to be working sessions with everyone given the opportunity to provide NCUA with ideas on these issues."
In November 2005, the House Ways and Means Committee challenged the agency and the credit unions it regulates to prove they're effectively serving people of modest means. A year later, NCUA's Member Service Assessment Pilot Program, developed in response to the challenge, showed that CUs were doing a good job serving most member groups. Individuals and families at both the high and low ends of the income spectrum were not being well served for a variety of reasons, prompting further research by the agency.
The New Orleans session, moderated by the Filene Research Institute's Bob Hoel, generated lively discussion around four questions drawn from the previous research that formed the basis for discussion during this year's Town Hall meeting. Some criticism was leveled at examiners who failed to understand the challenges of serving members of modest means and seeming insensitivity to those members and their communities. But the majority of the roundtable discussion groups operated in concert, and occasionally consensus, discussing issues that focused on NCUA's regulatory role, low-income definitions and designations, data collection procedures, and executive compensation.
As a group, Town Hall participants felt NCUA's continued involvement critical in encouraging credit unions to serve low-income groups through greater regulatory flexibility and understanding the need for different criteria. Lack of such flexibility, in fact, may have restricted some credit unions from more effectively serving these groups in the past.
"What you're saying to the regulator is that if you want more of these groups served, there may be some pain in the examination process," Hoel said.
Point Hotly Debated
One discussion point hotly debated was publication of credit union chief executive officer salaries, a move toward increased transparency faced by other nonprofits. Some felt CEO salaries were the business of the board of directors alone, while others felt increased salary publication would prove to the public and legislators that credit unions underpay relative to executive responsibility, and that those pay levels prove that credit unions once again are operating in the members' best interest.
Key discussion points were listed on flip charts by each roundtable group for later use by NCUA staff. Information gathered from all six meetings will be synthesized and summarized by the Outreach Task Force, Hyland said. "The endgame is for the task force to make recommendations to the board," said Hyland. "The most important part of this process is gathering public comment. This is really a crossroads for NCUA in determining what we do next."
More Town Hall Meetings Slated
NCUA has scheduled three more Town Hall meetings for the balance of 2007 in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington D.C. on July 16, Aug. 15 and Oct. 2, respectively.
