WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The banker attacks in Utah which led to an American Bankers Association field-of-membership lawsuit against NCUA was voted as the top story of 2003 by respondents to Credit Union Times' just expired online voting poll. Utah garnered nearly 43.15% of the vote. Coming in behind Utah with 22.41% of votes was Thrift Conversions/NCUA's Disclosure proposal. The issue was in the spotlight towards the end of the year when a group of members from Columbia Community CU, Vancouver, Washington, formed a group (Save Community CU) to try and keep the credit union a credit union. IRS' renewed interest in how its Unrelated Business Income Tax should be applied to CUs was voted the third most important story of the year with 15.73% of the votes. The UBIT issue looks to be another important story in 2004 as the IRS has yet to define what does and does not constitute UBIT for CUs. The poll question and the results are as follows: What was the most important credit union story of 2003?

Utah Banker Attacks (Led to Charter

Conversions, ABA Suit)