As NCUA deadlines near on recapitalizing the corporates, atleast two state trade groups in the Mountain West have been rampingup the internal dialogue with member CUs concerned about the fate of SunCorp, the Denver-based corporate.

For one, the Utah League of Credit Unions said CUs in the statehave been invited to another in a series of “roundtable” sessionsTuesday in Salt Lake City to discuss options on CUs contributing tothe recapitalization of the $1.9 billion corporate in line with anOct. 20 deadline.

Key questions being asked at the Tuesday session, according tointernal memos: “What is the world without SunCorp? What are someoptions? What ones are you considering?”

Scott Simpson, president/CEO of the Utah League, said Utah CUsin dealing with the corporate dilemma “have the options that areavailable to any other credit union in the country” but itwould “be irresponsible speculation” to discuss the currentscenario involving SunCorp.

SunCorp officials said they would have no comment on the SaltLake meeting or the corporate's recapitalization program.

Following the Utah league pattern, Scott Earl, president/CEO ofthe newly formed Mountain West Credit Union Association, made up of the former Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming leagues, said it has had numerousdiscussions on the corporates, SunCorp and the recapsincluding sessions held during the annual meeting last March inColorado Springs.

Some of the largest CUs in Colorado and Utah, at least, havelong since opted out of reinvesting in SunCorp, relying onFederal Reserve banks or other providers for services, but smallerCUs have relied on SunCorp for basic processing and fundingfunctions.

Both Earl and Simpson, like other top league executives alongwith CUNA, have repeatedly stressed the need for a “systemwidesolution.”

In a March email to Mountain West members, Earl wrote that the“credit union movement is at a crossroads regarding the future ofthe corporate credit union network, with each credit unioncurrently working through its own decision whether they will staywith their current provider or move to a new entity for itemprocessing, liquidity and investments.”

In the email, Earl said that as CUs consider options, “Weencourage you to include an analysis of how your decisions willaffect the entire movement, and how, in turn, the future shiftingof the movement will affect your credit union. Certainly,anything that strengthens the movement will strengthen your creditunion.”

“Here at the Association, we believe that a system solution ispreferable to a for-profit solution. By 'system' we mean that thesolution was created by and for credit unions, to benefit creditunions.”

One Utah CEO told Credit Union Times “we understand $70million is what SunCorp needs” but that it was touch-and-go whetherthey would meet that goal.

“We certainly would like to stick with SunCorp but we've madearrangements with the Federal Reserve if we need to switch, or weare looking at other corporates,” the CEO said.