ARLINGTON, Va. — When it comes to clout for the credit union industry in Washington, two voices are definitely better than one, NAFCU President Fred Becker said last week.
He said two trade associations enable credit unions to be an effective counterbalance to the banking industry, which has two main trade groups, the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America.
“There are enough credit unions for two groups,” he said during a dinner speech to the Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management Association. “There is a long history in this country of diverse opinions. There is no one voice in lots of areas.”
Becker, who answered questions from Credit Union Times Editor-in-Chief Sarah Snell Cooke, noted that NAFCU had taken the lead in persuading Congress to increase the lending capability of the Central Liquidity Facility. But he also noted that the two associations have worked together to ensure parity for credit unions in the Troubled Assets Relief Program and their recent joint statement on the need for supplemental capital.
Earlier this year, several executives of credit unions that each have several billion dollars in assets issued a white paper calling for the consideration of a merger between CUNA and NAFCU, saying that it would save money and raise the industry's profile. NAFCU has rejected the idea while CUNA is open to it.
Becker also noted that although credit unions were being hurt by the current recession, banks were being more adversely affected. He said the number of banks is getting smaller at a faster pace than credit unions are declining.
He pointed out that in recent years credit unions have become more visible and this is a mixed blessing, and the mainstream press doesn't always understand the nuances of credit unions.
“Credit unions have come of age. The good news is credit unions are more visible. The bad news is credit unions are more visible,” he said.
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CUs Can Apply to BSA Advisory Panel

WASHINGTON — Credit unions can apply for the one spot allocated to the industry on the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group.
The panel, which provides input to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on the implementation of the act, is made up of representatives of banks, credit unions, the credit card industry and other financial services providers.
Applications, due Jan. 8, 2009, must include: the name of the organization requesting membership, point of contact, title, address, e-mail address and phone number. They must also contain the vacancy for which the organization is applying, a description of the financial institution or trade group and its involvement with the BSA, and an explanation of the reasons why the organization's participation will help the group.
Applications must be mailed to: Regulatory Policy and Programs Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183 or e-mailed to: [email protected].
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Marketers Torn on Social Networking

DALLAS — While the majority of marketing executives feel that the economic crisis will hurt 2009 budgets, not many are eager to tap into social networking sites.
Despite the Facebook and MySpace phenomenon that has grown in just five years, 55% of the chief marketing officers at leading brands surveyed by marketing service firm Epsilon said they're not too interested (22%) or not interested at all (33%) in incorporating the social networking sites into their marketing strategies.
Though dialogue marketing is a trend in the industry, just 10% of CMO survey respondents reported using these social sites in their marketing plans. Internet forums (52%), Webcasts and podcasts (47%), e-mail (47%), blogs (37%) and Webinars (52%) outscored Facebook and MySpace (35%) in terms of being social media elements that marketing executives said they are very interested or somewhat interested in using.
“These sites narrowly appeal to college and high school students, providing a challenge as far as measuring results and yielding a limited amount of actionable data,” said Steve Cone, CMO of Epsilon.
Yet 27% of marketing executives identified social networking and word of mouth as the tool they most want to introduce to their marketing mix to compensate for anticipated budget cuts.
Other key results from the CMO survey are as follows:
o CMOs bracing for budget reductions identified e-mail as the channel they are least likely to cut back on versus any other tools.
o While just over half of the companies surveyed already use consumer data mining, 23% more said that they plan to utilize the technology in the next 12 months.
o Fifty-five percent of those not already employing Web analytics plan to do so in the next 12 months.
o Customer loyalty and rewards programs remain polarizing, with 33% of companies already using the strategy and 17% planning to use in the next year, but 50% not using or planning to use.
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N.M. Freezes Dues Again

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Cognizant of margin pressures within the industry, the Credit Union Association of New Mexico said last week it is freezing membership dues again in 2009, the fourth straight year.
“While our organizational costs continue to increase, CUANM's nondues related activities help to absorb the impact normally passed on to member credit unions in the form of dues increases,” explained CUANM President/CEO Sylvia Lyon.
She said the trade group's financial performance allows management “to return this savings to our credit unions. We realize how difficult it is for our members to sustain their earnings in these uncertain times, and we hope that this will be another signal of how much we appreciate their support year in and year out.”
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African-American CU Coalition
Seeks Lifetime Award Nominees

SHREVEPORT, La. — The African-American Credit Union Coalition is looking for the next recipient of its annual Pete Crear Lifetime Achievement award.
The recipient will have demonstrated support for the credit union philosophy of people helping people, have organized or provided significant assistance to credit unions in need, and constructively affected the infrastructure, growth, legislative, regulatory, image or service delivery capacity of the credit union movement, according to AACUC.
The recipient will be a volunteer or professional who has been involved in the credit union movement for at least 10 years, including credit unions and credit union-related trade associations, regulators and vendors. The recipient must have been actively engaged in the success of the AACUC through successful committee work, advocacy, financial donations or other supportive activities noted by the AACUC board of directors.
The nomination deadline is Dec. 31. Winners will be notified by no later than Feb. 1. The award criteria and application can be found at www.aacuc.org.
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Downturn Will Catch Card Brands Too

NEW YORK — Visa and MasterCard were considered insulated from the economic downturn by the nature of their business. Neither brand actually lends money to consumers and each makes money from the use of debit and credit cards.
But a New York investment firm last week officially took a skeptical position toward the two card brands by downgrading them. Cowen and Co., an investment banking, brokerage and research firm, moved Visa and MasterCard stocks from outperforming other stocks to underperforming them.
According to press reports, the firm downgraded the stocks based on what it considered deteriorating fundamentals, essentially that the card brands are not immune from the overall economic downturn.
For MasterCard, the firm estimated that strength in the company's non-U.S. purchase volume has been offsetting a material deterioration in U.S.-based purchase volumes and that these weakening trends will make it difficult for the card brand to meet its income targets.
For Visa, the company doubted that consumers' continuing attraction to debit cards would be enough to shield the card brand from loss of income. In the end, the company estimated, declining employment figures cannot help but impact the ability of consumers to spend, including on their debit cards.
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