Credit unions struggle with regulatory burdens while attemptingto tackle new forms of financial transaction technology. Smallcredit unions become part of larger institutions, either by choiceor by directive. The shadow of taxation troubles the U.S. financialcooperative movement, while globally, credit unions serve morepeople in other countries than ever before.

Welcome to 1990, where the issues were much the same as they aretoday. The more things changed, pundits noted, the more they stayedthe same, only more so.

But despite the similarities over time, credit unions havedramatically changed in the past 25 years while retaining the corephilosophy that have given them an edge in the consumer financialservices market. The same may be said of their primary tradeassociations – CUNA, the state leagues and NAFCU.

Some trade association changes have been subtle, while othersconstituted a full-scale overhaul of the organization and its goalsand objectives. Opinions differ on whether trade associations aredoing a good job keeping pace with a changing market, but all agreethat the tasks they face have become more challenging overtime.

“The role of trade associations in 1990 was to provide creditunions with a full suite of products and services, and they werelike super-CUSOs,” Henry Wirz, who has been CEO of the $2.2 billionSAFE Credit Union in North Highlands, Calif., since 1984,said. “The trades provided forms, discounts on equipment,training for staff and a host of other services.”

This service orientation was vital for a movement attempting toremain competitive while performing at a much smaller and, manyfelt, less sophisticated level than its banking counterparts. Thedrive to provide services existed at both the national and locallevels, according to industry veteran Pete Crear.

Crear, who retired as president/CEO of the World Council ofCredit Unions in 2011, started at the Michigan Credit Union Leagueas a junior auditor in 1965, advancing to vice president beforeaccepting a job as president/CEO of what is now the Credit UnionLeague of Connecticut in 1986. By 1990, he was heading up theIndiana Credit Union League just as the environment was starting tochange.

“I was at the Indiana League and on my way to CUNA when my rolewas just beginning to bud into one of advocacy,” Crear, who retiredthe first time from CUNA in 2005 after serving a variety ofexecutive roles and as interim president/CEO, said. “We wereevolving from a fair amount of operational activities that leagueservice corps provided to credit unions that they couldn't getanywhere else.”

The shift toward greater advocacy, especially at the leaguelevel, has been critical to the credit union movement's growingsuccess, Crear said.

“No one else can do what the leagues are able to do inmarshaling grassroots supporters,” Crear added.

In 1990, each state had its own league, but economies of scaleand the growing need for greater lobbying efforts and moresophisticated services have caused the merger of multipleorganizations. Today, there are just 32 state leagues and eightcombined leagues, each serving multiple states. As serviceorientation declined, so did income sources for state-level groups,which helped speed up the merger process – something Crear believedwas necessary.

“League downsizing gave the surviving organizations the riflefocus that they needed and the capability of serving their creditunions with the resources they still had,” Crear said.

In 1990, CUNA also was being buffeted by the winds of change andadopted a stronger advocacy stance, according to Bill Hampel, chiefpolicy officer for CUNA. In fact, the organization itself began tochange.

“The year 1990 saw the end of the old structure for CUNA,” saidHampel, who has been with the trade group since 1978. “The CUNAboard itself had 350 members then, with an executive committee of35 members that tended to act as the board. The annual meetinglooked a lot like a political convention.”

By the mid-1990s, and in response to concerns raised by largercredit unions that state-level leagues restricted free access tothe national trade group, the nature and structure of CUNA began toevolve. Continuing consolidation in the number of credit unionsthemselves also fueled the dialogue of change.

“By 1990, credit union consolidation had come a long way,”Hampel said. “That year we had 14,500 credit unions serving 62million members. The number of institutions was down from its peakin 1970 of 23,700 that at the time served only 23 millionmembers.”

Currently, 6,206 federally insured credit unions serve 100million members, according to data released by the NCUA.

The loss in the number of institutions and the continued growthof sophistication in those remaining changed the nature of CUNA asan organization, Hampel said. In 1990, CUNA still had CUNAMortgage, which served as a mortgage banker for credit unions, andCUNA Card Services, which provided credit card processing services.At the time, those organizations employed more staff than the tradeassociation itself, and both have ceased to exist as themarketplace continued to change.

“What we're doing better now is what we should have beenconcentrating on all along, which is advocacy,” Hampel said. “InWashington today, that has become an incredibly onerous anddifficult task.”

Despite their relative lack of culpability, credit unions arestill caught in retribution and restitution for the Great Recessionof 2008, Hampel explained. Subsequent laws and their enforcementhave taken a greater toll on credit unions than at any time inrecent history, and CUNA stepped up to the plate, he added.

“We believe Dodd-Frank would have been a lot more painful forcredit unions had we not been there to soften it,” Hampel said.

During that same period, CUNA's locus of influence moved eastfrom Madison, Wis., to Washington in support of its greatercommitment to advocacy. Whether that involved an official change ofheadquarters is still unknown, according to Crear.

Advocacy hasalways been at the heart of NAFCU, and over the past 25 years thathasn't changed, according to NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger.(Pictured left, NAFCU's surviving officers gather together in1990. From left to right: Bill Richards, Mack Rogers, B. DavidGoble, Frank Wielga, John Hutchinson, Robert Hess, John Stanton andH.C. (Hank) Klein.)

The association continues to focus on advocacy, education andcompliance assistance as its primary missions.

“NAFCU has always focused on federal issues,” Berger, who joinedthe association in 2006, said. “That's the way it was in 1990 andthat's the way it is today.”

One of the greatest changes to the organization occurred justlast month when NAFCU opened its membership, formerly restricted tofederally chartered credit unions, to state chartered, federallyinsured credit unions. The move was a logical step for NAFCU,Berger told attendees at the trade association's annual conferencein Montreal on June 23.