Trusted News for Credit Union Leaders
Credit Union Times
MARCH 29, 2017 | VOL. 28 | NO. 10 | CUTIMES.COM
CUs
Counter
Trump’s
CDFI Cuts
DAVID BAUMANN
dbaumann@cutimes.com
heryl Fatnassi considers it a success
when a small business owner outgrows the Opportunities Credit
Union she heads in rural Vermont.
As a community development
credit union, her institution helps
business owners start their companies. “A lot of financial institutions don’t do start-up loans
anymore because they’re not
profitable,” Fatnassi, the credit
union’s president/CEO, said.
But using funds provided
through the Community Development Financial Institutions program, Opportunities can make
those loans, with the hope that
one day, the business owners will
need the financial services and resources that only a larger institution can provide.
Headquartered in Winooski,
Vt., Opportunities has assets of
more than $37 million.
Fantassi’s institution is not
alone in the way it uses the CDFI
program. The National Federation of Community Development
Credit Unions estimates that for
every $1 of public funds, CDFI
credit unions leverage at least $12
of private capital.
However, the Trump Ad-
FINANCE
Y18
TECHNOLOGY
Hacking Back
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), introduced a bill as a discussion draft
that would allow a victim of a
cyberattack to access the attacker’s computer in order to gather
information about the attack to
share with law enforcement or to
stop the hacker from continuing
to access their network.
The Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act would not allow cyberattack victims to destroy any
information on their attacker’s
network or to otherwise cause a
threat to public safety. The proposed amendment has not been
formally introduced yet.
“This bill is about empower-
ing individuals to defend them-
selves online, just as they have
the legal authority to do during a
physical assault,” Graves said in a
statement on March 3 announc-
ing the proposal. “While the bill
doesn’t solve every problem, it’s
an important first step. I hope
my bill helps individuals defend
themselves against cybercrimi-
nals while igniting a conversa-
tion that leads to more ideas and
solutions that address this grow-
ing threat.”
Conversation is all that Justin
Kapahi, vice president of solu-
tions and security for External
IT, expects to come from the pro-
posed bill. He said that the pro-
posal was likely “meant to pro-
voke discussion” rather than to
actually become law.
“It’s good to create a discussion around ‘why do we have to
play defense? Why can’t Y15
Must Reads FOCUSREPORT:
MARKETING & BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
To sell members on loans and achieve growth,
credit unions must understand the psychology
behind consumers’ relationship with borrowing.
In this Focus Report, experts share insights on
consumer behavior and how to build a healthy
portfolio. Y8
partnership be- tween the New York City-based Growth- Fountain, an equity
crowdfunding platform, and the
$7.6 billion, Marlborough, Mass.-based Digital Federal Credit
Union enables entrepreneurs to
raise capital and members to invest.
Crowdfunding is the practice
of funding a project or venture by
raising small amounts of money
from a large number of people,
typically via the internet.
The JumpStart Our Business
Startups Act, or JOBS Act, which
passed in 2012, encourages small
business funding in the United
States by reducing many securities regulations. Under new SEC
rules effective May 16, 2016, the
public can now help finance start-up companies.
“The JOBS act was born out of
the great reces-
sion,” Growth-
Fountain CEO Ken
Staut said. “We
started thinking
about what crowd-
funding is and how
it works, it’s help-
ing local business-
es so they can hire people and
grow.”
Staut noted local businesses
contribute in the area of two to
four times the economic
Opportunity: Crowdfunding and CUs
ROY URRICO
rurrico@cutimes.com
Y16
COMMUNITY
Staut
Millennial
Employees
Turn them into major
assets. Y14
Lending
Challenges
Teach consumers
the benefits of
borrowing. Y10