The banking industry may be licking their wounds these days, but "once they get their TARP funds back," some of those larger banks will pose a bigger competitive challenge than ever to credit unions on consumer issues, former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar recently warned.

In a featured speech to the annual FOCUS 2010 EduConference of the California/Nevada Credit Union League, Dollar said large banks may be in survival mode while getting lambasted in public forums, but they are likely to emerge more consolidated and leaner later on ready to focus on the marketplace.

Thus, there is new urgency, he said, that CUs "seize the mantle of consumerism rather than cocooning away awaiting the fog to clear."