LAS VEGAS -- Serving consumers when the markets fail is the reason credit unions exist, Callahan and Associates President/CEO Chip Filson told California and Nevada Credit Union League annual meeting attendees this morning in a general session.

"That's why you have a tax exemption," Filson said. "So you can do things the market can't."

The former regulator praised credit unions for providing credit to consumers, calling them "first responders" to a credit market in crisis.

He also offered some criticism of the NCUA, calling the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund "the collective capital of the credit union system," and said the agency needs to understand those resources "aren't just an expense that can be charged off."

In response to an audience question asking what one thing about the NCUA he would change, Filson said the regulator should "stop predicting failure and start preventing failure."