In a departure from the routine, New England credit union executives will get a bank regulator's perspective on conditions facing financial institutions next Friday.
FDIC Director Thomas J. Curry will speak before the annual convention of the Massachusetts Credit Union League.
Curry, well known to Massachusetts CUs having been the former CU commissioner before taking the FDIC job in 2004, was picked "to give us some of his reflections on difficult times considering he played a key role in handling problems of financial institutions in this state back in the 80's and early 90's," said Dan Egan, president/CEO of the league.
Curry, who is one of three FDIC directors with Sheila Bair as chairman, will speak on a Financial Services Industry Update and will follow Deborah Matz, NCUA chairman, who addresses a morning session of the convention being held at the Gaylord Resort in Washington.
"Tom is well regarded for the strong way he dealt with that real estate crisis and S&L collapse which hit both New England and Texas harder than the rest of the country," said Egan.
Looking at what CUs are enduring currently, "we thought we'd like to get somebody like Tom from outside the credit union world to give us a perspective as to what he sees are ramifications"
of current gloom, said Egan.
Curry, an attorney, is also former chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and was a member of the State Liaison Committee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council from 1996 to 2003.
"As you may know, Tom is also chairman of Neighborhood Works, the national housing network, and so we welcome his views since housing is so important to our credit unions and community groups," said Robert Cashman, chairman of the league and president/CEO of Metro CU of Chelsea.
