WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill staffers got an earful of both sides of the conversions argument last week at a closed briefing.
There is nothing wrong with the credit union charter, GTE Federal Credit Union CEO Bucky Sebastian, chairman of the National Center for Member Trust, insisted. "It's not about the charter, it's about the management…It's not about the charter, it's about what you do with it."
He continued, "I talked about the greed inherent in the people who steal members' capital and turn it into a B-A-N-K." Sebastian said of the attendees, "I really think they get it."
Recommended For You
On the other hand, CU Financial President Alan Theriault, a conversion consultant, stated, "Much of the rhetoric going around is really coming from the trade associations and from NCUA." Many credit unions like the option open, he told Credit Union Times.
He added that he needed to "put it in perspective." Theriault said he explained to the Hill staffer there have only been 31 conversions–12 are still non-stock institutions, 10 are hybrids, nine are fully stock institutions–out of 8,000 credit unions. He noted that six credit unions are in the process of converting right now.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
