SAN DIEGO -- They may diverge on the correct means to the end, but this morning's Credit Union Times Best Practices Conference keynote speakers did agree on one thing: financial cooperatives have an unprecedented opportunity to redefine their culture and capture market share.
State Employees' Credit Union's Jim Blaine and Sandler, O'Neill & Partners' Peter Duffy spoke individually, then took the stage together to discuss and debate strategies for credit unions going forward.
Blaine recommend credit unions tweak their on culture, eliminating marketing, sales quotas and incentive pay, and focus instead on individualized, creative solutions for members. Trust is a credit union's only sustainable advantage, he said.
Conversely, Duffy said credit union culture isn't the problem, it is regulatory restrictions that limit the industry.
"Hate banks and fear taxation won't build market share," Duffy said. Some of the previously fastest growing credit unions in the world have lost steam because of capital constraints, he added.
However, Blaine cautioned against using banking business models as strategy.
"We'll own the market going forward, because the banking industry has ruined its reputation," he said. "Let's not look to a disgraced model going forward. Clearly these tactics don't work."
