LAS VEGAS — Pointing to the recent losses at Texans Credit Union through its commercial lending CUSO, NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland said new authority changes are pressing.
Speaking at the National Association Credit Union Service Organizations' annual conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, Hyalnd gave several examples where, if the NCUA had the authority to intervene with CUSOs that had an impact on troubled credit unions, the losses could have been minimized.
For instance, the $1.6 billion Texans Credit Union, through its CUSO, Credit Union Liquidity Services LLC, had $800 million in its commercial lending portfolio. That figure has since dropped to $272 million after the economic downturn.
"We could see things were going wrong but we had to go through the side door and through the maze to get there," Hyland said about Texans. "By the time we got there, it was too late."
She also cited other credit union failures such as Norlarco and Centrix.
"These were perfect examples of us not having the authority to go in. The credit unions were not getting the right information and neither were we," Hyland said.
Hyland acknowledged hindsight but remained optimistic that a new vendor authority model would give the NCUA more regulatory teeth. She cautioned that if the new authority moved forward, it will "not derail innovation" among CUSOs and credit unions.
