On the mind of many of the 130 attendees at CU Business Group LLC's recent conference was the state of the commercial real estate market.

That's according to the Portland, Ore.-based business services CUSO, which invited speakers to discuss new opportunities for business lending with featured sessions on faith-based lending, government guaranteed lending programs and taxi medallion loans. According to several reports, commercial real estate defaults are on tap to hit record levels by the end of the year.

Other experts spoke on problem asset management and the legal side of the issues facing credit unions today. On the business deposits side, the conference also delved into remote business deposits, ACH origination, merchant services and other advanced deposit products. CUBG President/CEO Larry Middleman said the CUSO is in the midst of conducting a business deposit survey that is scheduled for release in the coming months.

CUBG provides business services to 312 credit unions in 40 states.