PayThink

Question: do incentives really work, and is money the answer?

While speaking to the staff at a Midwest CU recently, I asked the question, "How many of you have someone in your direct family who is unemployed?" More than half the hands went up.

In the past year, we have seen the financial titans Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns reduced to rubble, unemployment rise to near-record levels and our highly valued housing market find new lows, while regulators and legislators struggle to administer a series of cures to our ailing economy.

With all the changes occurring within the economy and adversely affecting CUs, change inside your credit union is inevitable. That said, how many initiatives are you putting on your employees' plates in the coming months that will require them to do their work differently — or more efficiently — to ensure the survival your credit union while still providing quality member service?

In the four months between the time NCUA announced it would be docking all federally insured credit unions an "assessment" to bail out some of the corporates and the time the agency unveiled its stabilization plan, Fred Becker said he talked to more CEOs than he had in the nearly 10 years he's been president of NAFCU.

I have read several letters from Dennis Fisher lambasting Dan Mica and his supposedly misguided efforts to gain credit union access to TARP funds. Mr. Fisher asserts that he represents the majority of credit unions and because his side won, he suggests that Dan Mica should be praising those who defeated his efforts and acknowledge that it was a very dangerous path he was trying to lead credit unions down. Well, let me suggest several things for Mr. Fisher to reflect upon if he is inclined to view this subject with an open mind;

It seems a tide is turning: Few policymakers believe mortgage servicers will ever meaningfully modify home loans. Or so one could conclude from this Reuters story, which cites an unnamed Obama administration source saying the government is considering offering aid directly to delinquent borrowers.

Putting together a ranking of top-performing banks sure isn´t as easy as it used to be.

There will be plenty of bustle on the Hill this week as the early August date for Congress´ summer recess advances. Legislators are holding on, for the most part, to ambitious regulatory restructuring plans, and hearings on financial regulatory issues will abound. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, meanwhile will be overseas-thus safe, for a week, from Congressional scrutiny.

The recent rash of high-profile data compromises serves as a reminder that today's fraud perpetrators are sophisticated, relentless and ever-evolving. Unfortunately, when it comes to fraud prevention, too many CUs take a set-it-and-forget-it approach that doesn't match the evolution of contemporary fraud.