WASHINGTON — One prominent credit union leader has said that NAFCU is past its prime while another values the unique voice that represents solely federal credit unions.
Bucky Sebastian, president/CEO of $2.2 billion GTE Federal Credit Union, is calling on NAFCU to merge with CUNA. The former NCUA executive wrote in an op-ed for the August 2007 Callahan's Credit Union Report that NAFCU "fulfilled its mission long ago" and its existence is "presenting more debits than credits," literally and figuratively speaking. Sebastian was unavailable at press time for further comment.
According to Sebastian's piece, "NAFCU's presence is divisive. NAFCU never claimed to represent all credit unions, but only a segment. It often worked to promote the interest of that segment over the interests of the other segment. Thus it worked against a portion of the credit union movement. As it worked against that other segment and as it tended to devalue those credit unions that did not have federal charters or federal insurance, it tended to devalue the worth of the whole movement."
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Nothing could be further from the truth, Affinity Federal Credit Union President/CEO John Fenton, a $1.5 billion NAFCU member credit union, wrote in the t??te-? -t??te. "In fact, I believe NAFCU's ability to focus exclusively on federal issues has made it a stronger advocate for credit unions than other trade groups that must constantly balance state vs. federal interests. This singular focus has also resulted in NAFCU becoming the catalyst for change that ultimately benefits all charters."
He listed among NAFCU's recent accomplishments bankruptcy reform legislation with voluntary reaffirmations for credit union members, leadership in the California credit card case, and interaction with NCUA for field of membership updates.
Sebastian argued that NAFCU creates confusion for state and federal legislators and regulators, highlighting current work in passing the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act (H.R. 1537). "If some group is wriggling through the back door with whispers or going to the states and trying to stir dissension there, Congress is going to move on to less onerous challenges," he wrote.
Fenton countered, "Multiple voices don't necessarily mean competing messages (in Congress); in fact several strong voices are often needed to cut through the cacophony that is Washington. Open and consistent communication among the trade groups is much more important in these instances than having a single voice."
Fenton harkened back to the H.R. 1151 battle when CUNA and NAFCU worked together. However, Sebastian saw it differently–NAFCU was going to go to the trouble of hiring PR and lobbying firms and renting new
office space so as not to work with CUNA until "a meaningful group of credit union executives" forced the two groups to play nice.
Sebastian also raised the issue of the cost of supporting two national trade associations that could stay with the credit union members. Finally, he concluded, "If having two major trade associations is wasteful, divisive, duplicative, and confusing to legislators, then the sooner NAFCU merges into CUNA the sooner we get our act together, the more seriously we will be taken, the more focused, influential and powerful we will be, and the more money we will save."
CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica said, "I have long held a similar view, but I have also long recognized that the views of credit union CEOs would be the ultimate determinant in how this proposal is disposed. I certainly hope others will weigh in." He raised the idea when he joined CUNA more than 10 years ago, which was quickly extinguished.
However, Fenton finds, "What I value most as a member of NAFCU is that it puts me first; it values my input and then is not afraid to take a position–popular or unpopular–for the good of our industry."
NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker added, "Our members make it very clear every year that they want NAFCU to remain an independent trade association. As one of those members, John Fenton, so capably noted, there is tremendous value in having two trade associations working on behalf of credit unions."
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