NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Michigan Credit Union League went on the attack last week in assailing as shameful a surprise decision by the $58 billion Comerica Bank, the state's largest, to relocate its corporate headquarters to Dallas.
"The state of Michigan is struggling right now, and for Michigan's oldest bank and a stalwart supporter of Metro-Detroit communities for many decades to relocate for the purpose of growing profits is a real psychological blow," declared David Adams, president/CEO of the league, stressing the move "creates a stark contrast" between CUs committed to local communities and size-driven big banks.
Adams said the planned relocation as announced by the Detroit bank to occur in the third quarter of 2007 is another example of how big banks "remove themselves from struggling communities" while CUs remain locally owned and staffed and "put people ahead of the bottom line."
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The league CEO acknowledged he had no allusions the league statement would create much stir, but wanted Michigan CUs to be on the record in highlighting the industry's role in protecting communities.
"It gives us an opportunity to show exactly what credit unions represent," said Adams, adding CUs are not about to abandon hard-pressed areas. "The more banks remove themselves the better we look."
Comerica said it was making the Texas move as a strategic business decision to be closer to growing population areas in California, Florida and Texas where it has large branch penetration and where "there are talented employees," a remark that drew sharp criticism from civic leaders.
The relocation announcement, apparently weeks in preparation but which stunned lawmakers and the state's Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, came during morning news shows March 6 and was followed up by extensive media briefings and Web site explanations coordinated by the bank in anticipation of the criticism.
Still, Detroit newspapers expressed profound dismay at another large corporation ditching Detroit fearful even Daimler/Chrysler might follow Comerica's lead in relocating its Chrysler Group. In addition, drug giant Pfizer Inc. said in January it would close its Ann Arbor/Kalamazoo plants and lay off 2,400 Michigan workers.
"Midland-based Dow Chemical also may be in play," said the Detroit Free Press in noting that even though Detroit would only lose 200 jobs, the Comerica move "strikes at the state's downtrodden morale" and has "offended many metro Detroiters."
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said the City of Detroit might now look for a new bank for public monies and one Subway restaurant owner was quoted as urging citizens to pull deposits from Comerica "and switch to a community bank or credit union."
Comerica with 11,000 employees lists 397 nationwide branches of which 242 are in Michigan. Seventy-one are in Texas.
The bank has long been on a merger binge, buying its Detroit competitor, Manufacturers National Bank in the 1990′s and moving later on to acquire Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami area banks.
In its statement, the Michigan League noted that CUs "are headquartered here in Michigan and don't relocate outside the state to grow their profits."
Moreover, said Adams, CUs "are coming up with innovative ways to help the people of Michigan weather this tough economic climate" pointing to the offering of unsecured educational loans to members who have lost their jobs and need job retraining. –[email protected]
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