The $1.5 billion Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union and $238 million Midwest Corporate Credit Union have joined the Corporate Credit Union Share Guarantee Program. EasCorp's board approved the change of heart on April 27, followed by Midwest Corporate's board on April 29.
EasCorp said it originally turned down the offer because it didn't adequately protect member capital and could cause the board to "potentially lose control" of the corporate's future. Midwest Corporate CEO Doug Wolf said the original agreement conflicted with strategic plans he had at the time, but those goals have since been met.
The NCUA announced revisions April 21 that it said eliminated ambiguities and provided greater flexibility to participants. EasCorp and Midwest agreed.
"EasCorp's board of directors, in consultation with legal counsel, was satisfied that all previous concerns had been addressed and remedied in the revised agreement," EasCorp's May newsletter stated.
Wolf said the revised deal is more flexible and has more precise language, and said the NCUA's changes resolved Midwest Corporate's opposition.
The $1.75 billion First Carolina Corporate Credit Union and $100 million Iowa Corporate Central Credit Union are the only corporates who have not yet signed the LUA; both say they will announce their respective boards' decisions soon.
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Joe DeMichele Has Been Hired as
WesCorp's Chief Investment Officer

Joe DeMichele has been hired as Western Corporate Federal Credit Union's new chief investment officer.
He will direct WesCorp's investment operations, which includes providing comprehensive balance sheet, liquidity and investment related products and services to members, the corporate said in its May newsletter to members. He replaces former WesCorp CIO Bob Burrell, who was dismissed as a result of WesCorp's March 20 conservatorship.
DeMichele most recently served a short stint as senior vice president of institutional sales at Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Great Pacific Securities. For two-and-a-half years prior to that, he was CEO/managing director at Allegiance Advisors, established in April 2006 to manage credit-oriented structured product investments. According to his LinkedIn site, he built company assets under management from $0 to $750 million.
He also spent six years at Delaware Investments, where WesCorp CEO Phillip Perkins worked before taking the WesCorp job; the two men's tenures overlapped for at least three years. DeMichele's Delaware duties included various asset/liability management activities, including portfolio analysis, structured product investing and secondary derivatives trading.
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