ST. LOUIS — The banking industry's apparent legislative success in neighboring Kansas to thwart field of membership expansion is fresh evidence credit unions "must proactively develop relationships of trust with lawmakers," Roshara Holub, the chairman of the American Association of Credit Union Leagues said Friday.
In that regard, CUs must start "to broaden their sphere of influence in order to advance favorable legislation," said Holub, who also is president/CEO of the Missouri Credit Union Association.
Commenting on the swift passage of a so-called "compromise" anti-CU bill by the Kansas Senate Wednesday and the negotiations between the bank and CU lobbies, Holub maintained that "there are times we are forced to sit down and have discussions with our adversaries." Still, that scenario might have been avoided if CUs in Kansas and elsewhere could have developed more clout with lawmakers early on, she said.
Recommended For You
"The Kansas and Missouri situations are quite different," observed Holub. "Our experience is having a seven year lawsuit that resulted in a court decision that in effect totally stopped expansion. That forced us to seek an immediate legislative solution."
Nonetheless, she said, "we understand the harsh realities" as banks continue to have powerful influence in state legislatures. What to do about such conditions remains "challenging", she said.
In agreeing to a Kansas compromise restricting further statewide branching in that state, Kansas CEOs have pointed to Missouri as well as Utah and their costly confrontations with the banking lobby. "In our banking wars we had to decide whether we could risk the expense of a long lawsuit and we chose not to," declared one Kansas CEO.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
