PayThink

Seven and a half years ago I attended a League Marketing Workshop. I had just started working at the credit union. I didn't have a single brochure, never done a promotion, nothing, nada, zip, zilch. As the first marketer of my credit union, I was charged with the task of creating it all from scratch. I was very young and, quite frankly, scared to death. It wasn't easy being green.

If you knew nothing of credit unions, would you take a morning or afternoon off to travel to an "Expo" and find out more?

President-elect Barack Obama may have defeated the politician most widely known as a pit-bull, but his new White House chief of staff has also garnered the reference in the past.

Fresh off a victory, groups that canvassed for the Democrats in the run-up to Tuesday´s elections are now settling in to affect policy-without downshifting. A new crop of lobbyists will be installed in Washington with ambitious goals for the early period of President-elect Barack Obama's term.

President-elect Barack Obama probably hasn´t given it much thought but BankThink can't help but wonder which regulators will still be making financial services policy next year.

How do you convince the guy you dissed yesterday not to return the favor?

As evening draws near and the pundits and anchors take their spots, a red-and-blue election map will take shape. Where will the bankers be?

As the presidential election draws near one thing is clear-this country is desperate for change.

For a lot of credit unions along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions, we are (hopefully) nearing the end of another tough hurricane season: Hurricane Dolly, followed by Tropical Storm Fay, then the triple punch of hurricanes Gustav, Hannah and, most especially, Ike.

The direct and indirect mortgage losses that the financial services industry are experiencing have dominated the news headlines for several months, and recent passage of the $700 billion treasury plan is a testament to the distress that many institutions are facing.