Credit unions are dealing with a lot these days: margin squeeze,rising delinquencies, Treasury's Blueprint ideas and competition toname a few items. Not to add to credit union woes, but I'mdedicating this column to five things credit unions don't want tohear--or read.

-Credit union executive salaries will be disclosed, and soonerrather than later. With the disappearance of group 990 filings forthe IRS, nearly all state-chartered credit union executives'salaries will be out there for the world to see this year; shortly,as in next tax season, the group filings will vanish entirely.

The NCUA Board, I predict, will approve the disclosure offederal credit union executive salaries to the membership, whichessentially means the public. The vote won't be unanimous, but Ithink it will happen. Interesting observation: NCUA senior staffdoes not like it when Credit Union Times publishes theirsalaries.

In favor of keeping private financial matters private for avariety of reasons. The two legitimate ones I've heard are banksoffering more money to steal the best talent the credit unioncommunity has to offer and personal and family safety.

But credit union executives don't work for private companies.They work for nonprofit organizations owned by the members who paytheir salaries. Credit unions are one of the only, if not the only,nonprofits not to disclose executive salaries. I don't see how theycan avoid it.

-Low-income service data collection will also become areality--not a Community Reinvestment Act requirement but, again,from NCUA's Outreach Task Force proposal. The collection willhardly present any more burden to credit unions except those thatare not online and those credit unions need to ask themselves wherethey are heading in the 21st century and beyond.

NCUA's proposal would have the data disseminated in aggregate sono individual credit unions would be singled out. However, I firmlybelieve NCUA needs to be cautious not to regulate according tofindings from this data collection--that's not its purpose.

I've heard from some, 'What if Congress asks NCUA for morespecific information?' So what? Credit unions overall have nothingto hide, and maybe those credit unions that need to be doing alittle bit more to serve their respective fields of membership willget a swift kick in the pants.

Credit unions would show up the banks and provide proof thatthey don't need CRA. That won't satisfy House Financial ServicesCommittee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), but it sure could swaysome fence sitters in Congress.

-Treasury's Blueprint proposal could be a blessing in theconversions arena. There has been buzz around Washington for yearsabout merging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and theOffice of Thrift Supervision; I think that has a high probabilityof happening in the next five to 10 years because of theirsimilarities. The thrift trade association has even merged with theAmerican Bankers Association.

A credit union seeking to convert to a mutual savings bank andthen add a mutual holding company where it can sell off 50% instocks, as has been the recent trend, would lose that reason toconvert.

On the other hand, it's been suggested to me that credit unionsmight use the consolidation of all the depository institutionregulators, including credit unions, to be the perfect reason toconvert if they're all going to become banks anyway. Not going tohappen: Credit unions are too strong a force in Congress. Frank hassaid as much, as has Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman PaulKanjorski (D-Pa.).

In my mind, the structure as a nonprofit cooperative takesprecedence over the function as a financial institution.

-Ah yes, cooperatives. Credit unions need to do more of that,and by this I mean, you guessed it, a national branding campaign. Ireally don't understand the resistance. Absolutely credit unionsshould maintain a strong individual brand but that does not have tobe to the exclusion of a national credit union brand.

Look at the Got Milk? campaign, which has proven both popularand effective. Milk had an even bigger advantage than creditunions--everyone knows what it is. Skim, 2%, whole milk. How manyAmericans know what a credit union is? How many credit unionmembers really know what a credit union is?

True story: A couple nights ago out of the blue at the dinnertable, my six-year-old son asked me the difference between a bankand a credit union. I smirked proudly and tried to explain inkindergarten terms. I'm in the industry, but credit unions need toprompt the children of nurses and schoolteachers and janitors toask this question. How else do you capture Gen Y, or even Z?

-The war and the housing crisis has taken nearly everything offthe legislative agenda for the year. Last I heard there were twoopen, scheduled legislative days left for the U.S. Congress. Likesomeone with little or no savings hitting an emergency situation,sacrifices have to be made. Advancing the Credit Union RegulatoryImprovements Act (H.R. 1537), while a noble cause, will be one ofthem.

The bright side is the best bet for CURIA, or its spawn, theCredit Union Regulatory Relief Act (H.R. 5519), is to move itpiecemeal, even now more than before. No one believed CURIA wouldpass as is anyway. Credit union lobbyists were creative in tryingto attach the member business lending initiatives as part of thestimulus bill. Keep it up!

However, I wonder at the wisdom of CURRA. Will those keyprovisions in CURIA that are not in CURRA, like broader businesslending expansion and capital reform, fall on deaf ears without themilder provisions encapsulated in CURRA if it passes?

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