Credit unions

LENEXA, Kan. – U.S. Central FCU, which reported a whopping $4.9 billion loss for 2008, detailed new exposures to the ongoing credit crunch in its annual report issued Friday night.

LENEXA, Kan. – NCUA said this evening it still believes U.S. Central FCU is a "viable" credit union, even after it issued audited financials for 2008 showing a quadrupling of previously reported losses to almost $5 billion.

LENEXA, Kan. – NCUA said this evening it still believes U.S. Central FCU is a "viable" credit union, even after it issued audited financials for 2008 showing a quadrupling of previously reported losses to almost $5 billion.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Consultant and former NCUA Chair Dennis Dollar sees the task force recommendations closely mirroring what the agency is likely to put forth in its own proposal:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Terry Halleck, president and CEO of The Golden 1 CU, Sacramento, Calif., said the task force's proposals "sound like a good plan to me. They definitely need to create efficiencies within the system, so there should be fewer corporates. We had to write off $44 million just for WesCorp, so the investment change is a positive one because we don't want to see the corporates being in that position again. The corporates did a great job of getting additional yields for the credit unions that invested in those, but at a great cost that we have all had to bear this year.

LAS VEGAS — Brad Beal, president and CEO, Nevada FCU, and chairman of NAFCU's board, noted, "The changes are intended to mitigate the risk involved. Some of the corporates got pretty heavily involved in private label, mortgage-backed securities. The investment changes are designed to mitigate risk, which I feel is a really good thing.

WEBSTER, Mass. — Given the emotions and costs surrounding losses and failures by corporate credit unions this year, there was great potential for a task force studying the issue to be caught up in politics.

LENEXA, Kansas — U.S. Central Corporate CU, which would be eliminated under the recommendations by the joint CUNA/NAFCU task force, declined comment on the report, noting it is in conservatorship and under the control of NCUA. They agency's John McKechnie said both the top-tier corporate and the regulator were not commenting on the task report, aside from a statement from NCUA Chair Deborah Matz: "NCUA is in the process of reviewing the correspondence from the Corporate Task Force. As we move through the corporate rulemaking process, NCUA will carefully evaluate all input from stakeholders with the goal of producing a corporate regime that is stronger, more durable and better suited to the changing needs of the credit union industry."

PHOENIX — After applauding CUNA and NAFCU for a "significant step forward" in forming the joint task force on corporates, the Arizona CU League's Pat Bodnar said, "ACUL feels that it is premature to form an opinion at this time regarding the potential impact of the recommendations outlined in the task force report. It is essential to communicate with our member credit unions about any important issues impacting the credit union movement. We have asked that our member credit unions provide comment on NCUA's Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Each credit unions' individual situation is unique, influencing their comments. A statewide collective opinion has not been determined, however we are reaching out to our credit unions to gather their thoughts and reactions in order to support them in the best way possible."

MIDDLETOWN, Penn. — One week after public release of recommendations for changes to the way corporate CUs operate, reaction is generally mixed among natural-person CUs and corporates themselves.

TALLAHASEE, Fla. – Southeast Corporate FCU announced yesterday that William Birdwell, its president and CEO since 2001, will retire in February, when he turns 65.

WASHINGTON-The services of corporate credit unions should be limited to a defined set, including payments and settlements, liquidity and short-term investments, according to final recommendations released last week by a task force created in the wake of several failures among corporates earlier this year.

WASHINGTON - Among the joint CUNA/NAFCU task force recommendations on corporates are:

WALLINGFORD, Conn. – Constitution Corporate FCU said yesterday the continued decline in its investments created a $62.9 million loss for the first seven months of the year.

DALLAS – Southwest Corporate FCU, one of a handful of corporate credit unions struggling under the weight of distressed mortgage-backed securities, said yesterday it recorded another $113 million of losses in July on its MBSs, along with an additional impairment of $67.6 million on its capital in U.S. Central FCU-creating a loss of $178.2 million for the month.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The expected $1 billion premium to be voted later this month for the National CU Share Insurance Fund is not in addition to an assessment to pay charges for the corporate credit union bailout, because the size of the corporate assessment remains unknown. A report in the Aug. 28 Credit Union Journal Daily Briefing could have been interpreted to indicate incorrectly that the $1 billion would be additional funds.

SAN DIMAS, Calif. – WesCorp FCU said yesterday that a $538.3 million loss recorded for the month of June deepened its capital losses, making it increasingly unlikely that its 1,020 credit union members will be able to recover the $2 billion in WesCorp capital they have or are about to charge-off.

WARRENVILLE, Ill. – Members United Corporate FCU said yesterday last month’s additional write-down of capital at U.S. Central FCU created a $78 million loss for the month of July, bringing year-to-date losses to $150.6 million.

RUTLAND, Vt. — One CEO here is wondering if the rate his corporate is paying is reflective of market realities, or is it a punishment?

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — A new partnership with Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU subsidiary MY CU Services means that iPay Technologies is now the supplier of online bill pay services for more than half of the nation's credit unions that boast such a service.