Credit Union Management

The only similarity you might consider between hernia surgery and filing an auto insurance claim is that both can be rather painful. However, case studies presented at CUES' CEO Institute III this spring at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration demonstrated several similarities between these experiences as provided by two vastly different companies. Progressive Insurance Co's Concierge Program and Shouldice Hospital's hernia operations share several bu...

Management Network

Nfcdcu Offers Partnerships for the 'Big Guys'

Two of the largest credit unions(CUs) in New York City, $1.3 billion, 296,000-member Municipal Credit Union and $2.5 billion, 73,000-member United Nations Federal Credit Union, have joined the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU) as community development partners. Federation membership is open to any CU with a strong demonstrated commitment to serving low- and moderate-income people and communities. NFCDCU provides member CUs with free consulting services, acces...

Polish &Amp; Slavic Fcu Makes Name with Scholarship Program

The US' largest ethnic credit union (CU), Polish &Slavic Federal Credit Union gave away $300,000 in scholarships in 2008 alone. That's $4 per member toward the scholarship program. The 2008 scholarships went to 250 high school and college students in the New York tri-state area. All scholarship recipients were members of the CU. The scholarship program began in 2001, when the credit union gave away $20,000, and has now become a huge project the CU hopes will pay dividends into the future.

Open Forum

Unconventional Car Loans

Susan Vuong, EVP at $41 million PrimeSource Credit Union, with about 5,400 members in and around Spokane, WA, isn't used to being baffled by a loan approval. But that's just what happened to her, when a loan for an electric car hit her desk. Vuong said that she based her decision on the borrower, but she now wants to consider possibly addressing these situations in their policy since they may begin to see more and more of this type of request. Bruce Cramer, CCE, president/CEO of O Bee Credit ...

General Management

Playing for Dough

As credit unions suffer from a serious slump in interest income, Tyco Federal Credit Union (FCU) is among a select number that are finding innovative and non-controversial ways to add to their bottom lines. $85 million Tyco FCU has spent the last three years focusing on increasing penetration into its existing field of membership and getting credit cards into members' hands. The debit card goal is tied to a three- to five-year push for new members, headed by a recently hired VP/business devel...

Idea Exchange

Many leadership quotes talk about leading people to places they don't really want go, or being an agent of change and, historically, those are certainly qualities of successful leaders. But often overlooked is the ability to simply listen and consider other points of view and new ideas. In 2008, Joe Schroeder, president/CEO of $305 million San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union, San Diego, and DeFarra Dean Gaymon, president/CEO of $49 million Atlanta City Employees Credit Union, both attended CE...

Human Resources

Top Training

Making a training and development program outstanding is a multi-faceted one at Mountain America Credit Union, which at $2.8 billion assets is the second largest credit union in Utah. To date, Mountain America CU's training team has prepared approximately 40 CU Briefings. They are designed to provide employees with vital information for use in the member services area. The briefings are stored on the credit union's Intranet, allowing employees to have easy online access to a variety of topics...

Board

Long-Term Leadership

It's hard to find the perfect CEO to lead your credit union. The best are in extremely high demand because of their problem-solving skills, their love for the credit union movement, and their drive to succeed. Even if you manage to hire one who fits well, there's no guarantee that he or she will stay for any length of time. Supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) is an umbrella term for a variety of different kinds of executive retirement plans that are linked to the completion of an ag...

No More Guesswork

For Steve Winninger, managing Lansing, MI-based NuUnion Credit Union sure ain't what it used to be. And that's a good thing. When Winninger was hired 17 years ago to run what was then known as State Employees Credit Union, the board was, by its own admission, mired in management detail, he says. As such, Winninger and his management team spent hours preparing for board meetings. Although the board at NuUnion CU adopted Policy Governance in 2000, Winninger first brought the idea to their atten...

Operations

Obtaining Appraisals

Credit union organizations and individuals are weighing in on a controversial new agreement that will have a major impact on the way financial institutions obtain appraisals. The New Home Valuation Protection Code sets forth various requirements governing appraisal selection, solicitation, compensation, conflicts of interest and corporate independence. Under this part of the agreement, credit unions will not be able to use appraisal services offered by their own CUSOs. Carl Pry, a banking att...

Answering the Call

The way credit unions (CUs) answer their front-line phone makes an impression on members -- and employees. Staffing a call center can be expensive, especially when most incoming calls could be answered by an automated attendant that is much cheaper than keeping someone on staff. CUs that don't have the resources to open a full-service call center may choose a "hybrid" system to answer the phones. When all lines to a real person are busy, the extra calls are routed to an automated attendant. I...

Marketing

Pushing Forward

Successfully rebranding a credit union takes grit, determination, money and follow-through. That's what turned Weyerhaeuser Employees Credit Union in Longview, WA, into Red Canoe Credit Union. The name change and the organizational and cultural changes that went with it are paying off: After virtually no growth in membership for four and a half years, in its first year as Red Canoe, the CU chalked up 11% growth in new members and 10% growth in assets in a tough year economically, notes Mark W...

Best Return Possible

Since credit unions (CUs) can't turn back the clock to market to a relatively homogeneous membership via direct mail and measure advertising effectiveness based on cost per 1,000, they have to come up with new ways to assess the reach and return of new marketing media -- from Facebook pages and banner ads to mobile marketing, or steering members to the nearest branch via their cell phones. One way to get the most bang for your marketing bucks is to target offers accurately to the right member...

Cues News

Cues Board Members Re-Elected

Strategic Radar Adds Partners

CUES and Strategic Radar Inc, Conshohocken, PA, announce that CUES Supplier members PSCU Financial Services, Financial Service Centers Cooperative, and Credit Union 24 have joined forces to monitor and anticipate the key trends shaping the future of the credit union industry. The framework for the monitoring activity was guided by a CUES study, "2010 Scenarios for Credit Unions," which details the market factors shaping the credit union industry in the years ahead. New market developments and...

New Advisory Panel Members Named

From The Editor: Management

Efficiency Vs. Differentiation

Editor

P & S Cues Products & Services

Staffing Data: How Do You Stack Up?

An excerpt from the CUES 2006 CUES Staffing Manual for Credit Unions is presented. Credit unions continue to "do more with less." Since 1998, total staff per $1 million in assets has fallen steadily. In 1998 the average was .63 total employees per million dollars in assets. In 2006, the average was just .44 total staff per $1 million. Asset growth, mergers and liquidations have played a significant role because larger credit unions have proportionally fewer employees than do smaller credit un...