In response to your great poll question about whether we are a movement (www.cutimes.com), we are definitely still a credit union"movement", just as credit union "philosophy" is still alive and well. Why?

We are not an industry, rather a movement within the financial services industry. As soon as we abandon the thought that we are a movement we run the unavoidable risk of thinking of ourselves as just another player offering bank-like services. The philosophy of the credit union movement is precisely what sets us apart from being merely a bank.

The credit union movement was born out of need. I contend that need still exists today only in larger proportion because of a larger population.