To protect the industry at a time it is most vulnerable, NCUA needs to provide still "more transparency" and understanding of its corporate actions and be cautious in "casting us with the lot of all other financial institutions," said CUNA Chairman Kris Mecham.

Commenting on the U.S.Central/Wescorp crisis, the president/CEO of Deseret First FCU of Salt Lake City, said already "we will be paying a very heavy fee" for the conservatorships and it will be challenging to say the least for CUs to explain 2009 losses to members.

One encouraging step NCUA has taken, said Mecham, is in agreeing to "hold securities to maturity and we hope they do that" before any precipitous liquidation, urged Mecham.

The Utah CEO also said the industry's hyped weekend preparation for a possible deposit run was really "a continuation of our training that began in January," said Mecham. Trade groups worried over negative public and media reaction to the corporate takeovers went into overdrive last weekend to prepare CUs with training "talking points" to counter public safety/soundness fears.

But the concerns for the most part proved unfounded as media attention was focused on AIG and bank takeovers and as for U.S. Central/Wescorp, "we had maybe six phone calls from members," said Mecham describing the reaction in Utah as "cursory." He noted, however, that while Utah is not in the same financial straits as its neighbors in Arizona and Nevada, "we do have some rather challenging housing problems impacting our loan portfolio" in St. George, Utah, near the Nevada border "and close to Las Vegas."