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November 28, 2018

NAFCU Board, Fed's Quarles discuss CU, econ trends

Quarles
NAFCU Board members met Tuesday with Randal Quarles, the Fed's vice chairman of supervision.

The NAFCU Board met Tuesday with Federal Reserve Vice Chairman of Supervision Randal Quarles to present findings from the association's 2018 Report on Credit Unions and discuss issues critical to the credit union industry.

The board provided Quarles with an overview of key findings from the report. NAFCU Board Chair Jeanne Kucey, president and CEO of JetStream Federal Credit Union in Miami Lakes, Fla., noted that the credit union industry serves more than 114 million Americans, but most credit unions are small and often don't have the resources to address challenges facing the industry.

Gary Grinnell, NAFCU Board secretary and president and CEO of Corning Federal Credit Union (Corning, N.Y.), detailed credit union financial conditions, including loan trends and the effects of the financial crisis on the industry. Membership trends were shared by Jim Kenyon, president and CEO of Whitefish Credit Union (Whitefish, Mont.).

Fed coverFollowing a rundown of NAFCU's priorities from NAFCU Board Vice Chair Debra Schwartz, president and CEO of Mission Federal Credit Union (San Diego, Calif.), and Daniel Weickenand, CEO of Orion Federal Credit Union (Memphis, Tenn.), Bob Fisher, president and CEO of Grow Financial Federal Credit Union (Tampa, Fla.), explained the intricate relationship between credit unions and technology, including the need to manage cyber risks.

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger also reiterated credit unions' concerns related to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) current expected credit loss (CECL) standard. NAFCU has worked to obtain relief for credit unions under the standard and has urged FASB and the NCUA to coordinate guidance. Quarles recently discussed CECL concerns – and other credit union issues –while delivering the regulator's semiannual report to Congress.

Following the discussion on the Report on Credit Unions, Quarles answered a number of questions and shared some of the economic trends the Fed is monitoring.

The 2018 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions is now available for download (read more here).