NCUA's lack of transparency regarding how it calculated corporate losses isn't as much a matter of agency trust as it is corporate accountability.
That's the issue for Lew Whalen, General Manager and CEO of the $28 million KUE Federal Credit Union, and his board. The Lexington, Ky.-based executive said the NCUA's lack of PIMCO report specifics allows corporate managers to shirk responsibility for their actions.
"We have our loan allowance figures that we have to stand behind, so why won't they?" he said of U.S. Central and WesCorp managers and volunteers. "That's what upsets me, my board and my members. We had our stops in place, and even now, our financials are sound. Others didn't, but they aren't being held accountable."
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Whalen said he's frustrated with the amount of money being spent on PACs to influence state and federal legislators, "who have shown they don't have a clue what their constituents want." Instead, if that money was spent on consumer advertising, he said credit unions would "kill the banking industry".
"If you look at small credit union balance sheets, you can see that we're growing," he said. "Our current members know their money is safe here. Well, if we can get that word out to others, plus let them know we have money to lend, it will be gangbusters for the credit union industry."
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