The $1.6 billion Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has disaffiliated from CUNA and the Texas Credit Union League, Credit Union Times learned today.
Among the various reasons for leaving the nation's largest credit union trade association, TDECU's letter to league President/CEO Richard Ensweiler and CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney listed lack of volunteer governance on the league and national boards, vendor domination of association meetings "matched by a continuing decline in substantive educational content," divergence of interest between large and small credit unions, difference of opinion on legislative and regulatory advocacy issues, and continued alignment with for-profit financial services industry advocates on issues like bankruptcy and credit card reform.
"Our board of directors judges that TDECU gains little by continuing its membership," the letter stated.
It continued, "The board wishes to convey that this action in no way signals a departure from our continuing faithfulness to the founding principles of the credit union movement. Our board remains open to collaboration with TCUL/CUNA and may entertain requests for resources on a project-specific basis."
Representatives from CUNA and TCUL were not immediately available for comment but look for further updates at cutimes.com.
