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Credit Union Times
JUNE 29, 2016 | VOL. 27 | NO. 21 | CUTIMES.COM
FOCUSREPORT:
CONSUMER LENDING
Credit unions continue to seek ways to
attract millennials – a demographic often
saddled with debt – and some found private
student loans and student loan refinances to
be the answer. Learn more in this Focus
Report. Y8
onservatorship is a
scary word, and only
a lucky few credit
unions have lived to
talk about it.
For the tiny handful that have
convinced regulators in recent
years to give them a second
chance and release them from
conservatorship, Independence
Day takes on a whole new mean-
ing. The leaders who beat those
long odds shared a few war stories
with CU Times.
One of the newest members of
that tiny survivors’ club, the Rich-
ardson, Texas-based Texans Cred-
it Union, won back its freedom on
June 17. Back in April 2011, the
NCUA put the $1.5 billion credit
union into conservatorship. The
agency and the credit union’s
leaders then went to work tack-
ling troubled assets, improving
lending controls, revitalizing op-
erations and improving operating
efficiencies. According to the reg-
ulator, the 111,000-member credit
union gained more than $100 mil-
lion in net worth during that time.
That’s a rare outcome. Most of
the time, liquidating or merging
with another credit union are a
credit union’s only options once
it goes into conservatorship. And
from a leadership perspective,
those might appear to be the sanest options anyway, because returning from conservator-
STRATEGY
Conserved CUs Reclaim Freedom
TINA OREM
torem@cutimes.com
Y17
CU Loan
Serves
Gender
Fluid
Market
PETER STROZNIAK
pstrozniak@cutimes.com
he $9 million, Chicago-based North Side Community Federal Credit
Union has its roots in
activism.
In the early 1970s, when Angela
Turley sought a bank loan to buy a
house in the city’s uptown neighborhood, a banker said no, instead
suggesting she look for a new home
in a Chicago suburb. Because of
that redlining experience, in addition to her knowledge that women
lacked access to financial services,
Turley was inspired to establish
the credit union in 1974 when the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act was
passed, giving women the right to
apply for credit.
That same activism lives on at
North Side Community, which is
believed to be the first financial institution in the nation to launch a
gender-affirming procedures loan
product package, which was created by the credit union’s accounting
specialist, Lee Dewey, an LGBTQ
activist.
“We were kind of founded on activism,” Sarah Marshall, president/
CEO of North Side Community,
said. “We have a board member
who is pretty active in the Y14
LENDING
Y15
Must Reads
STRATEGY
Technology Aids Compliance
Earning a profit while complying
with regulations is an ongoing
challenge for credit unions. But
the $116 million, Fairlawn, Ohio-based Towpath Credit Union recently discovered new tools that
help it address compliance roadblocks while continuing to grow
its lending program.
The credit union collaborated
with regulatory compliance firm
PolicyWorks, which is wholly-owned by the Iowa Credit Union
League, Ohio Credit Union
League, and California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues.
It also began using ComplySight, a web-based compliance
management and tracking tool
developed by League InfoSight –
an initiative developed by several
leagues, including Policy Works’
three league-owners, to provide
useful compliance resources to
member credit unions.
PolicyWorks incorporates a
management consulting component into ComplySight, making it
more powerful for credit unions.
The technology, along with Policy Works’ staff members, reviews
documents and files in key areas of risk, allowing Towpath to
manage compliance requirements responsibly.
ComplySight’s system pushes
out regulatory alerts to inform
credit unions about new or upcoming credit union compliance
requirements. The tool also explains credit union regulations
and other requirements in a language that is easy to under-