A San Jose, California newspaper and several members of the 69,000 member, $1.6 billion Technology Credit Union have raised questions about the credit union's recent hiring, suggesting that the credit union is hiring bank executives well in advance of actually changing its charter. Technology is headquartered in San Jose.
According to the San Jose Business Journal, the credit union has hired executives to head up a commercial lending division and a wealth management/private banking division, as well as a new chief credit officer.
Each of the executives came from an exclusively or predominantly bank background and the credit union has postings up for an additional wealth management/private banking manager and a chief compliance officer that would have an orientation toward bank regulations, including recommending and monitoring programs to “ensure the Company meets the needs of the community and attains Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance goals.”
The Community Reinvestment Act regulations are exclusively aimed at banks except for Massachusetts which has a state CRA regulation that includes credit unions.
Technology has not yet responded to requests for comment on the hiring.
“I think this hiring spree raises important questions for members,” said Robert Marinace, a long-time Technology member who has begun publicly opposing the credit union's proposal to change from a credit union to bank charter. “What do they know about the vote that we do not that makes them so confident they will win that they have no problem hiring executives? Who will pay for any golden parachutes if the vote does not go their way and the new hires have to be let go,” he added.
