JUNE 28, 2017 | VOL. 28 | NO. 22 | CUTIMES.COM

CU Lawmaker Landscape DAVID BAUMANN

dbaumann@cutimes.com

fter almost a year of work, the Maine Credit Union League succeeded in June in pushing legislation updating the state’s credit union charter through the House and Senate.

There was only one problem.

Gov. Paul LePage vetoed the legislation.

“We were surprised,” Elise Bal-
dacci, the league’s assistant vice
president of government affairs,
said. “It was his first real swipe at
credit unions.”
Within days, credit union of-
ficials across the state convinced
the legislature to override the gov-
ernor’s veto, ensuring that the bill
becomes law.

“It’s never easy to override a veto,” Baldacci said.

While not all states have had such drama involving credit unions, legislatures across the country have enacted laws affecting credit unions this year.

Some, such as Maine, overhauled their state charters.

The Maine bill increases the percentage of total surplus that state-chartered credit unions may invest in real estate and fixed assets from 50% to 60%.

The legislation creates parity between state-chartered and federally chartered credit

POLITICS

Y21

DOL IMPACT

Upside Down Annuities

If you sell or market annuities, you may face a frustrating problem.

This should be the best market for retirement savings products ever. Employment is pretty good. More than 15,000 U.S. adults are turning 50 every weekday. At least about 3,000 of those adults probably earn enough that they should be flooding into the offices asking for retirement planning services.

Meanwhile, most of the news coming out about annuities is either bad or (frankly) pretty boring.

One reason is that it’s summer. Many advisors and annuity industry luminaries are either networking at conferences or relaxing on beaches.

A second reason is that it’s right before the end of the quarter. Many publicly traded insurers release big, juicy news with their earnings reports, or soon after they release earnings.

A third reason is the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. DOL officials turned part of the annuity world upside down June 9, when much of the rule took effect, and are warning that some of the rest of the annuity world could turn upside down Jan. 1, if they cannot figure out how to keep other provisions and interpretations from taking effect.

Some financial advisors and insurers like the goals behind the fiduciary rule effort, and Y18

Must Reads

redit union executives have to know a lot to perform in their demanding jobs. Ironically, their extensive knowledge won’t help them think creatively for ideas to improve products or member services.

In a standing room-only ses-
sion packed with credit union
professionals at the Southeast
Credit Union Con-
ference last week
in Orlando, Lara
O’Connor Hodg-
son declared that
creative thinking is
not about what you
know, it’s about
what you notice.

Hodgson knows a lot. She
earned an MBA from the Har-
vard Business School and a Bach-
elor’s in aerospace engineering
with highest honors from Georgia
Tech. She admits, however, that
her extensive knowledge wasn’t
responsible for her creative think-
ing that led to breakthrough ideas,
helping her launch various prod-
uct and service businesses over
the years, including a successful
CUSO payments company, called
the NOW Corp. in 2011.

Before beginning her presentation on creative thinking, Hodgson asked whether anyone in the crowded room thought they were creative.

EXECUTIVES

CUs Harness Creative Thinking

PETER STROZNIAK

pstrozniak@cutimes.com

Y19

FOCUSREPORT:

INNOVATION

As more and more consumers head online to research financial products and services, credit unions are shifting their marketing priorities from branches to digital.