LAS VEGAS — Credit Union Journal asked attendees of NAFCU Annual Conference last month to look ahead to the strategic planning season and answer the question: Is your credit union adding any new agenda items this year?
Patrick Miller, CEO, CBC FCU, Oxnard, Calif.
For all credit unions, the biggest unknown is NCUA's risk-based capital rule. It is a de facto government-mandated business strategy, and we are concerned about being restricted to that strategy. It makes it very difficult to plan the next three years not knowing what the final rule will be.
Credit union strategies are fairly simple: grow members and grow loans. But to accomplish those today credit unions have to be much more nimble. They also have to be much smarter about what data to collect and the business decisions they make from that data.
One big topic we will discuss is being ready for members using smartphones. We need to have apps, because almost anything that can be done in financial services is going to migrate to smartphones.
Donna Battistoni, CEO, Torrington Municipal and Teachers FCU, Torrington, Conn.
For us the big issue is lending. We are having issues getting our loans out there. Another is technology. We have online banking, but we need to be ready to offer remote banking and remote deposit capture. The third priority is compliance — oh my God, all those regulations that keep coming down.
Norman Okimoto, CEO, Hawaiian Tel FCU, Honolulu
We will be dealing with the low-interest-rate environment and the directions interest rates are going to go. We have to plan how far out to go with investments. Everyone tells us rates are going to rise next year, but of course, they have been supposed to go up every year for several years now.
The economy in Hawaii is doing pretty good, largely from Asian tourism. We did not overbuild, so the housing market is doing well.
Pat Ferry, CEO, Members Heritage FCU, Lexington, Ky.
Our session just took place. We had a local facilitator, who is very familiar with our credit union and our local market, come in and help. He helped us set up goals not only for next year, but for the next three years.
We switched core processors in April 2013, which was a big change. This year we are switching from a federal charter to a state charter, so that is the big goal for this year.
Bill Nikolauk, CEO, 1st Community FCU, San Angelo, Texas
We always look at our charter to see if we want to stay a federal charter or switch to a state charter. This year, we might bring someone in to at least examine whether we might need to convert to a bank. Some people won't like me saying that, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I did not at least take a look at it. It is not something we want to do, and I don't think we will do it, but we need to talk about it.
We also will be discussing the local economy, which is in an oil boom. We want to grow slow and steady, because we know the boom will not last forever and those people will not stick around.
