Credit Union Leaders Meet With Congressman Chris Carney
Congressman Chris Carney had a meeting yesterday with Association Director Bill Lavage; Regulatory Review Committee Member Eric Chase; Tom Rachael, CEO, PALCO FCU; John Sharp, CEO, Horizon FCU; and GAC Member Paul Nyman, along with Association President/CEO Jim McCormack.
The group discussed the Congressman’s co-sponsorship of interchange bills H.R. 2382 and H.R. 2695, and raised a number of objections to the legislation for the Congressman to consider. In addition, the group thoroughly shared concerns about Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s (D-NY) overdraft protection bill, H.R. 3904, which would institute additional measures on the ability for credit unions to provide this service to members.
The Congressman expressed his support for an increase in credit union member business lending.
This meeting marks the 13th of 21 Congressional and Senate meetings scheduled for this month. Credit union members residing in Congressman Carney’s district are asked to contact him on these issues. Please go to http://capwiz.com/cuna/home/ to send your correspondence.
Rep. Gerlach Drops Out Of Race For Governor
Pennsylvania GOP Congressman Jim Gerlach yesterday dropped out of contention for the Republican nomination for Governor. Gerlach's withdrawal from the race leaves Attorney General Tom Corbett challenged only by State Rep. Sam Rohrer. It's unclear whether Gerlach will seek to run for his 6th District Congressional seat. Four other Republicans have announced their candidacy for the seat and three Democrats are vying for their Party's nomination.
“Rep. Gerlach has been a long-time friend of the Pennsylvania credit unions,” states Jim McCormack, Association President/CEO. “We look forward to working with him in whatever endeavors he chooses.”
Credit Unions Support Young Men’s Futures Symposium
The Young Men’s Futures Symposium, sponsored by Junior Achievement of Central Pennsylvania, was held Thursday at Harrisburg Area Community College. The Pennsylvania Credit Union Foundation supported the program with a $2,500 grant.
Participants and volunteers from credit unions included:
- Paul Wagner, Hershey FCU, and Jesus Cruz, Belco Community Credit Union, Steering Committee, Project Organizers, and credit union liaisons;
- Frank Fisher, SVP, Members 1st FCU led the Budget session;
- Mark Ely, Hershey FCU, Facilitator and Mentor;
- Joe Wambach, Foundation Representative; Career Presenter in Social and Non Profit Organizations; and
- Russell Evans and Jay Young, representing the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association; Facilitators and Luncheon Mentors.
Sessions included: Ice Breaker and Interviewing; Career Choices; Budgeting; Lunch and Discussions; Keynote Presentation on Confidence Building; and High School Academic Achievement.
PaCUSC To Introduce CO-OP Mobile
Pennsylvania Credit Union Service Centers (PaCUSC) is pleased to introduce CO-OP Mobile to Pennsylvania and Delaware credit unions.
Using a cooperative business model, CO-OP Mobile is available without any upfront capital expenditures to any credit union offering shared branching. Using the standard CO-OP branded application, only nominal transaction fees apply. There is a nominal setup fee for credit union-branded applications.
With some 7 million mobile banking users in 2009, the growth in mobile banking is being driven by the rapid expansion of smart phones and increasingly robust mobile data networks. CO-OP Mobile allows members to bank anytime, anywhere, with secure access from their mobile phone. Members can view account balances, search account activity, transfer funds, and even find the nearest CO-OP Shared Branch or CO-OP Network ATM.
“In a tough economic year, we’re excited to offer this service to PaCUSC credit unions”, said PaCUSC State Coordinator Sandy Shenk.
PaCUSC has scheduled a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, January 26, at 2:00 p.m. to provide additional information regarding CO-OP Mobile. The webinar is open to any member credit union. To register, simply e-mail your name, credit union and preferred e-mail address to sandy.shenk@pcua.coop.
Employee Milestones
Congratulations to Kathy Heinz, Credit Union Service Rep, Card Services, who marked her 30th year with the Association on January 7. She started as a clerk in Support Services and maintained credit union records for a number of years, before she transferred to Card Services.
Gov Signs Table Games Law
Governor Ed Rendell’s signature is on the new law legalizing table games at Pennsylvania’s slots casinos. The Governor signed the bill in private yesterday, saying he had mixed feelings about it, then talked about it to reporters at a news conference.
The new law is designed to generate millions in license fees to close a gap in the current year’s budget and produce revenues for state and local governments in future years. Table games include poker, blackjack, and roulette. Regulators say it’ll be at least six months before table games are up and running.
Certificate Program Awards
For a listing of individuals who recently earned certificates from the CUNA correspondence courses for professional development, please click here. Congratulations, everyone!
Newsmakers
Newsmakers
On December 31, 2009, Freedom Credit Union launched its official Facebook page as part of an overall social networking initiative aimed at educating and bringing value to its members. The credit union invites members and non-members to become a fan of Freedom. Simply log on to www.facebook.com, enter Freedom Credit Union in the search box, look for the green and white logo representing Freedom Credit Union in PA, and become a fan.
Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union will be participating in the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show, which opened Saturday in Harrisburg. PSECU will again be providing transportation to state employees and the general public in downtown Harrisburg to the Farm Show Complex during the lunch hours. PSECU has provided this service for the past three years and ridership has continued to increase, reaching 4,895 riders in 2009. In addition, the credit union will sponsor the Renewable Energy Exhibit, which highlights the many alternative energy sources being researched and employed throughout Pennsylvania. In previous years, the exhibit showcased a number of different technologies including wind, solar, anaerobic digesters, and vehicles powered solely by biofuels.
White Rose Credit Union, York, partnered with the Southeast Community Alliance for the annual Christmas program, held at Hanna Penn Middle on December 19. White Rose members and staff donated gifts. The event was to include entertainment, crafts, gift-giving, and a meal for the expected crowd of more than 1,200; however, the entertainment and meal were cancelled due to a snowstorm. Volunteers conducted a carol sing-along and served refreshments. Five credit union volunteers managed the toy-giving area.
Keystone Extra Sneak Peek
Keystone Extra Sneak Peek
How did Pennsylvania credit unions thrive in third quarter 2009?
What pending regulatory reform might affect consumers this year?
What are the benefits of participating in the Spring program?
When is the Association’s Annual Convention?
Find answers to these questions and more in this week’s Keystone Extra Sneak Peek.
Friday Tidbits
Friday Tidbits
Celebrating Pennsylvania Agriculture
The 2010 Pennsylvania State Farm Show opens Saturday and features a full agenda of daily events through January 16. The Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural event in the nation, featuring nearly 6,000 animals, 10,000 competitive exhibits, and 270 commercial exhibitors. A highlight of the weeklong event is the butter sculpture, made from nearly 1,000 pounds of butter donated by Land O’ Lakes in Carlisle. This year’s sculpture depicts a dairy cow, as well as a dairy farmer pouring a glass of milk at the breakfast table with his family members.
Pennsylvania is home to more than 7,100 dairy farmers and 537,000 dairy cows. Dairy-related businesses contribute $7 billion annually to the state’s economy, spending about 85% of their income locally, and providing more than 40,000 jobs.
National News
National News
Mica on Huffington Post: Consumers moving $ to CUs
WASHINGTON (1/8/10)--A blog by Credit Union National Association President Dan Mica posted Thursday on the front page of The Huffington Post and responding to the Post's "Move Your Money" series, has generated hundreds of online comments, many from consumers praising their credit unions.
Earlier in the week the Huffington Post' launched a campaign, telling consumers to "make a New Year's resolution to move your money out of big backs" and put it in community banks. Since then the Post has amended the advice to include credit unions.
Mica's blog responded to the campaign with a "Right on!" and pointed readers to CUNA's CU locator tool at creditunion.coop, which helps visitors locate credit unions near them.
"Without question, financial consumers are angry at--and have lost their loyalty to--big banks. Late-night comics routinely make fun of the banks; there's even a new iPhone app in which players try to stop 'cash-hungry' bankers from wheedling more bailout money from the U.S. Treasury," Mica wrote.
He noted that "consumers are already voting with their wallets in favor of credit unions." CUNA data show credit unions are on pace to post 2% membership growth in 2009--"the fastest rate we have seen since 2001 and double the rate of U.S. population growth," he said.
Moving to credit union "makes perfect sense," he wrote, citing credit unions' structure and service orientation, their better rates and lower fees, and the amount consumers have saved by using credit unions--$9.2 million, or $104 per member and $198 per family.
"In today's turbulent economy, credit unions' cooperative business model has renewed relevance for American consumers," Mica wrote. He referred to a statement from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who said that if other financial institutions behaved like credit unions and small community banks, the mortgage meltdown would never have happened.
After the Post's original article, it received a number of comments saying it should add credit unions to its advice. The "updates" page of the Post's "Move Your Money" site now includes this:
"CHECK OUT CREDIT UNIONS. Many folks writing us are avid advocates of credit unions. For those who want to do more research, the Credit Union National Association seems like a good resource."
By Thursday afternoon, Mica's column had generated 194 comments from online readers and the article had been retweeted 76 times.
FFIEC releases interest rate risk advisory
WASHINGTON (1/8/10)--The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) in an interest rate risk (IRR) advisory released on Thursday reiterated "the importance of effective corporate governance, policies and procedures, risk measuring and monitoring systems, stress testing, and internal controls related to the IRR exposures of depository institutions."
The FFIEC is comprised of the National Credit Union Administration and the federal bank and thrift regulators.
The advisory "also clarifies elements of existing guidance and describes some IRR management techniques used by effective risk managers," the FFIEC said.
While the FFIEC recognizes that financial institutions will always encounter some risk, the group said that "institutions are expected to have sound risk-management practices to measure, monitor, and control IRR exposures," adding that financial institutions are expected to manage their exposure to risk "using processes and systems commensurate with its complexity, business model, risk profile, and scope of operations."
"Effective" risk management systems do not involve "only the identification and measurement" of risk, but the "appropriate actions to control this risk," The FFIEC added.
"If an institution determines that its core earnings and capital are insufficient to support its level of IRR, it should take steps to mitigate its exposure, increase its capital, or both," the release said.
The FFIEC release was not unexpected. As Mike Schenk, senior economist at the Credit Union National Association pointed out Thursday after the agency released the guidance, financial institutions have exposures to interest rate risk and interest rates will surely move higher in the future.
"FFIEC is making it clear that this will cause rate risk exposure to be a point of emphasis in the exam process," Schenk said, and added, "Low home prices, low mortgage interest rates, and government purchase incentives have translated into a fairly high volume of originations of fixed-rate, long-term mortgages at the nation's financial institutions - all equal more interest rate risk." At credit unions, fixed-rate mortgages with terms greater than 15 years increased from 29% of total first mortgages outstanding to 37% of total first mortgages outstanding in the past three years.
"However," Schenk said, "it is important to remember that these 15-plus year fixed-rate mortgages represent just 9% of credit union total assets: While interest rate risk exposure has increased, it is limited when balance sheets are viewed broadly. In addition, credit unions have a long track record that makes it clear that they are very good at measuring, monitoring and controlling this risk."
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