Credit Union Newsletter - #32
Anurag Mukherjee
Credit Union & Community Bank C-Suite Advisor | P&L and GTM | Data Scientist | Fintech Advisor & Podcaster
As of March 31, credit unions with assets of more than $1 billion must include overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees in Call Reports filed with the NCUA. Officials with America's Credit Unions have pushed back on this reporting revision since it was published late in December. On Friday, Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt, with the lobbying group, wrote to the NCUA's three board members asking the agency to not publicly disclose the new fee data stating the new reporting requirement could expose legal and reputational risks to those credit unions.
"Data on these fees should not be released publicly. Instead, the NCUA Board should further evaluate the legal and reputational risks that credit unions may face and delay the release of such information," wrote Hunt.
According to Hunt's letter, the argument concerning a legal risk revolves around the fee data from credit unions, falls under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption and should be considered confidential.
The dollar amount of credit union loans outstanding decreased -0.06% in February, compared to a -0.06% decrease in January and a 0.38% increase in February of 2023, according to America’s Credit Unions’ latest Monthly Credit Union Estimates.
The estimates are based on information from a monthly sample of credit unions and are revised when quarterly regulatory report data is available.
“America’s Credit Unions’ economic team sees this weak overall loan growth continuing, with an expected 4% full-year 2024 increase in loan balances overall.? The long-run average annual growth in credit union loans is much higher – about 8% over the past 30 years,” ACU said.
The $3.5 billion Consumers Credit Union (CCU) in Lake Forest, Ill., plans to merge with the $417 million KCT Credit Union in Elgin and the $39.1 million Rockford Bell Credit Union in Loves Park. In addition, the $28.9 million Peoples Energy Credit Union in Chicago is expected to consolidate with the $381 million Earthmover Credit Union in Oswego.
The CCU consolidations were announced in separate news releases on April 3.
If the proposed mergers are approved by regulators and members, CCU assets would grow to more than $3.7 billion, while its membership would expand from 222,367 to nearly 255,000 and its number of locations would increase from 16 to 26.
The organizations would continue to operate as Consumers Credit Union.
Ten days after bipartisan legislation was unveiled to address data privacy, officials with America's Credit Unions filed a letter expressing their general approval of the legislation, but highlighted areas of concerns for the credit union industry.
The American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) was introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on April 7 and would establish national consumer data privacy rights and set standards for data security. According to the draft legislation, the bill "would require covered entities to be transparent about how they use consumer data and give consumers the right to access, correct, delete and export their data, as well as opt out of targeted advertising and data transfers."
With 11,000 Americans turning 65 every day in the U.S. during 2024, credit unions and CUSOs gathered here were told they have a huge opportunity in offering Medicare services to members to drive new revenue, provide member services and recruit non-members.
Credit unions that aren’t offering a product to members need to understand that members, especially those turning 64, are going to be inundated with phone calls, mail and email from companies seeking to sell them Medicare services, according to a panel discussion here.
Many of those “bombarded” consumers won’t and don’t know who to trust—and that’s where the credit union steps in to help, according to those same panelists, who cautioned that many of those pitches are from investment firms and big banks that aren’t really about Medicare as much as they are about getting control of financial relationships and assets.
Credit union members, employees and Americans overall are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for both professional and personal reasons, as they experiment and deploy the new artificial intelligence tool.
According to a Pew Research Center survey in February, 23% of Americans’ have at least tried the technology, up from 18% in July 2023.
The February survey also asked Americans about several ways they might use ChatGPT, including for workplace tasks, for learning and for fun, Pew Research Center said.
?Sources – American Banker, CU today info, Cutimes
Innovation Instigator | Transformational Leader | People Builder
7 个月CUSOs present such a great opportunity for credit unions. I can’t wait to watch others lean in to the entrepreneurial opportunities that exist for our industry. We have so much to do, and so much that can be done.