WASHINGTON — Industry turmoil over the NCUA's planned insurance assessment and corporate bailout plan for U.S. Central CU reached what many were calling an historic fever pitch Friday amidst calls for "calm" and a reasoned approach for alternative proposals to cushion against large CU income losses.
"During my tenure as NCUA chairman, I don't recall such a dramatically negative reaction to any NCUA action, including CapCorp and CAP during the D'Amours era or when we went to quarterly call reporting for all credit unions," declared Dennis Dollar, the ex-chief regulator and now a Birmingham consultant observing the hostile feedback "and angst" of his clients as simply "palpable."
With e-mails, blogs and online list flooded with commentary, suggestions and attacks on NCUA and the corporate system by worried CUs, CUNA and other trade groups said they were overwhelmed with the industry response.
Recommended For You
CUNA said its Wednesday audio Webinar had a record 3,000 participants and was altered from an original online video slide format to accommodate the demand and save on expenses. CUNA is considering a followup session soon as its Corporate Task Force continues to collect data in approaching the income hit. Trade groups said many of the questions from members centered on the accounting treatment as to how the assessment is to be applied.
The president of Callahan & Associates, Chip Filson, called recent NCUA actions,
well thought out, constructive and a foundation for the industry to build upon but acknowledged
industry responses "have ranged from outright anger to resignation." Some CUs, are simply accepting an eventual assessment as "'just tell me how to make the accounting entries'" said Chip Filson, Callahan president.
But the very future of CU networking and structure could be in the balance as "the emotional energy runs high," observed Filson adding that "this is a defining moment that can give new character and meaning to cooperatives. Or we can, like many other industries, plead that we too must have a government bailout."
© 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.
