By Ray Birch
FOLSOM, Calif.—Membership choice will clearly place more pressure on CUNA and state leagues to perform, say several credit union executives—including one who plans to ask the national trade association and the California/Nevada Leagues to sign performance agreements.
In December, the CUNA board voted in favor of presenting to its affiliated member CUs the most significant revision of its bylaws since the association was formed in 1934. Under the proposed bylaws changes, credit unions will likely be given a choice of belonging to their state league only, belonging only to CUNA, or having membership in the traditional league/CUNA model.
“NCUA has asked all of us to practice vendor management. We need to evaluate the performance of our league and CUNA and give them our own evaluation each year,” insisted Henry Wirz, CEO of the $2.3-billion SAFE CU here. “We spend a lot of money on dues. SAFE has a written vendor agreement with each vendor that specifies service level agreements. We will ask CUNA and our league to sign an agreement and evaluate their performance to see if they meet the service levels that we specify.”
Right Choice
Wirz emphasized that he’s pleased that CUNA decided to allow membership choice.
“CUNA made the right decision,” he said. “Choice means that both CUNA and the leagues have to compete for the members’ dues, and that will make both CUNA and the leagues better. Competition improves any organization.”
Laida Garcia, CEO of the $413-million floridacentral CU in Tampa, Fla., believes that CUNA must now find a way to remain relevant to those credit unions that feel they no longer need CUNA—at least, in its present form, adding that some leagues will be challenged to remain viable without the dual membership requirement.
“Some leagues are financially and operationally strong and can handle the challenge, but a number of leagues may not survive without dual membership and their reliance on CUNA for support,” she said.
Henry Wirz, SAFE CU
For Michigan First CU in Lathrup Village, Mich., which has yet to make a decision on dual membership, CEO Michael Poulos said choice gives his $765-million CU the opportunity to review where its association dollars are best invested and how much benefit to the members they provide.
“From my perspective, we have been playing defense for many years with not many wins to cheer about,” said Poulos about advocacy efforts. “The regulatory onslaught continues and it is my hope that CUNA becomes much more aggressive and that we start to see some real wins in areas that affect the most number of credit unions.”
CUs Must Perform Too
Tina Sbrega, CEO of the $454-million GFA FCU in Gardner, Mass., summed up the matter saying change is good for everyone.
“Change causes one to examine what is working and where improvements need to be made,” she said. “This is no different.”
But Wirz emphasized that the onus to perform is also on CUs—and that if CUNA is to perform on advocacy, it must have credit union support.
“I would urge CUNA to give each member credit union a report card each year on how well the credit union and its leaders have supported political, regulatory and public advocacy,” said Wirz who feels credit unions can do a better job with advocacy (see related story). “CUNA’s success in lobbying will depend in great measure on how well CUNA motivates CEOs and board members to do their part.”