Credit unions

WASHINGTON – CUNA President Dan Mica responded to criticism yesterday of CUNA’s role on the board of U.S. Central FCU, the focus of NCUA’s $5 billion corporate credit union rescue.

WALL STREET – Standard & Poors placed the 10 corporates it rates on its CreditWatch Negative yesterday because its believes the growing opposition to NCUA’s corporate bailout from natural person credit unions may jeopardize the plan.

WASHINGTON – CUNA is being scrutinized for its role in the bailout of U.S. Central FCU and the corporate credit union network, which is estimated to cost credit unions $5 billion to fund.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The chief executive of another billion-dollar credit union called on NCUA yesterday to scrap its $5 billion bailout of the corporate credit union network and urged the federal regulator instead to takeover the corporates.

IRONDALE, Ala. – NCUA’s bailout of the corporate network appears to be creating a rift between the beneficiaries of the plan, U.S. Central FCU and seven large corporates, and the other 19 corporates, most of which only have negligible losses on their investments.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Just as the banking regulators are exploring whether to segregate the banks’ illiquid assets into a single entity, one credit union executive is also proposing an initiative to separate out the bad assets from corporate assets; call it a "good corporate, bad corporate" plan.

WASHINGTON – An outcry over the $5 billion cost of the corporate credit union rescue has prompted the credit union lobby to ask Congress to open up the emergency lending fund, the Central Liquidity Facility, to corporate credit unions in hopes of shifting some of the cost of the huge bailout from the National CU Share Insurance Fund.

WASHINGTON – Recriminations were flying yesterday over responsibility for the bailout of U.S. Central FCU and the corporate network, with executives calling for the ouster of key corporate management, the elimination of the corporate system, and even the removal of the NCUA Board for its role in the unfolding crisis.

MILWAUKEE – A suit filed this week by the credit union owners of Central States Mortgage Co. against the founders of the company, one of the state’s largest mortgage lenders, illustrates some of the perils of the additional roles corporate credit unions have taken on in recent years as they sought new sources of income.

WASHINGTON – A key House panel endorsed a bill yesterday that would stretch out the $5 billion deposit insurance premium credit unions will be charged to pay for the rescue of the corporate credit union network to as long as five years.

SAN DIMAS, Calif. – WesCorp FCU reported Monday it will be unable to post its completed financial results for 2008 until later in the first quarter as its struggles to assess fair values for its $544 million of ten troubled collateralized debt obligations, better known as CDOs.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA officials said yesterday the agency is hoping that economy will improve in the coming months and improve the condition for corporate credit unions by the end of the year so the cost of the agency’s proposed bailout of the corporates could be less than the projected $4.7 billion.

WALL STREET – Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded U.S. Central FCU again on Friday after NCUA announced a $1 billion bailout of the central bank for credit unions in the wake of a $1.2 billion loss for U.S. Central’s fourth quarter.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Widespread opposition was building last week among both healthy and troubled credit unions to NCUA’s $5 billion corporate credit union rescue plan announced earlier in the week.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-NCUA was forced last week to infuse $1 billion into U.S. Central FCU after the central bank for credit unions reported a staggering $1.2-billion loss for its fourth quarter and $1-billion loss for 2008.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The average credit union will be hit by the huge bailout of the corporate system both coming and going--on its bottom line and on its net worth, according to projections by NCUA.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – With NCUA’s unprecedented bailout of U.S. Central FCU underway, the question being pondered in the credit union movement is will another corporate credit union require a government rescue to stay afloat?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA is reviewing several options to resolve the spiraling losses among the corporate credit unions, including a takeover of the most troubled corporates or bringing as many as eight of the corporates under strict supervisory agreements, according to several sources.