Credit unions

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA has set this year’s corporate credit union assessment at 9.5 basis points, a total of $790.53 million.

As its new name implied, Western Bridge Corporate FCU was designed to be a short-term bridge to something new — ideally, a new corporate capitalized by member credit unions — that was made up of something old: most of WesCorp's operations.

NCUA board member Michael Fryzel describes the mood and the thinking at NCUA in the months leading up to the conservatorship of WesCorp and U.S. Central, and shares how quickly concerns over WesCorp turned to full-fledged recognition there were significant problems and conservatorship was the only option.

How one corporate came to grow fast, grow big, and grow into a problem that couldn't be resolved.

Not until Feb. 26, 2009, did discussion about real trouble at WesCorp begin in the NCUA boardroom. That's when it was brought to the board's attention that expected losses at WesCorp were well ahead of the corporate's $2-billion capital position.

Phil Perkins shouldered the task of guiding WesCorp FCU after NCUA conserved the former $32-billion corporate giant. He talked with Credit Union Journal about his experiences at WesCorp/Western Bridge.

Some highlights from the history of WesCorp.

Credit Union Journal filed a Freedom of Information Act request with NCUA on Dec. 11, 2011 and as part of that request asked for minutes from NCUA board meetings from January 2007 through September 2011, in which WesCorp/Western Bridge was discussed.

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for NCUA yesterday defended their bid to bar testimony from NCUA Board members Debbie Matz and Gigi Hyland in the civil trial of former WesCorp FCU CEO Bob Siravo by insisting the two Board members “have no direct personal factual information” about the 2009 collapse of the one-time $34 billion corporate credit union.

Lawyers for NCUA asked a federal court last week to bar potentially embarrassing testimony by NCUA Board Members Debbie Matz and Gigi Hyland and former Chief Corporate Examiner Kent Buckham in the civil trial over the 2009 collapse of WesCorp FCU.

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for NCUA asked a federal court yesterday to bar potentially embarrassing testimony by NCUA Board members Debbie Matz and Gigi Hyland and former Chief Corporate Examiner Kent Buckham in the civil trial over the 2009 collapse of WesCorp FCU, which is projected to cost credit unions $7 billion to resolve.

Has the National Credit Union Association's new corporate guidelines created more secure CUs?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA announced Saturday morning the completion of its liquidation of WesCorp FCU, marking the end of the most costly failure in credit union history.

While debate persists over whether the new corporate structure affords the credit union community greater investment safety, discussion continues regarding the viability of the new marketplace.

CEO of Mid-Atlantic FCU and Victor Vrigian, Jr. share their views on changes in risk and regulation.

ALEXANSRIA, Va. – NCUA Friday afternoon issued a prohibition order against Thomas Swedberg, the former director of human resources for WesCorp FCU, which bars Swedberg from working for corporate credit unions.

LOS ANGELES – One of two WesCorp executives still fighting NCUA civil charges over the 2009 collapse of the corporate credit union giant has called for testimony from senior NCUA executives, including two on-site examiners at the one-time $34 billion corporate, as to their roles in landmark failure.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Corporate One FCU announced this afternoon that Southeast Corporate FCU fell a little short of its goal to raise $75 million in perpetual contributed capital but the combination of the two corporates will go through anyway with Southeast’s $68 million of PCC.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board next month is expected to vote a corporate assessment of between eight basis points and 11 bps, or between $800 million and $1.05 billion, according to a top agency official.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Southeast Corporate FCU on Monday said it is still short of its planned capital raising for its merger into Corporate One FCU and has extended the deadline for subscriptions another month, until June 29.