A little over a month ago, the NCUA unceremoniously brought to a close the four-year saga of the failure and conservatorship of U.S. Central, the one-time $52 billion corporate credit union. After 35 years of high performance as a central player in the credit union system, the institution ceased to exist. How did this happen and how can we apply the lessons?"
Explanations for U.S. Central's failure are legion: misguided managers, weak regulators, irresponsible rating agencies, nonsensical accounting rules, unscrupulous mortgage brokers, sinister investment bankers, unbridled government-sponsored enterprises and greedy residential real estate speculators. Some mention federal policy imperatives promoting universal homeownership. If Wall Street's best and brightest missed the housing bubble warning signs, it's no wonder U.S. Central missed them.
Undoubtedly, each of these partially explains U.S. Central's demise. Nevertheless, as a former U.S. Central senior executive who has had ample time to reflect, I see an additional factor at work. U.S. Central's governance processes did not effectively help managers recognize and counteract their own cognitive biases.
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