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Credit Union Times
APRIL 3, 2019 | VOL. 30 | NO. 10 | CUTIMES.COM
Must Reads
INVESTMENTS
‘Pensionize’ 401(k)s and IRAs
In a world of defined contributions, American workers have
three challenges – inadequate
savings, leakage (or loans/early
withdrawals) tied to their retirement accounts and the need for
retirement income. Plus, just half
of all DC plans offer a way for
investors to transform balances
into periodic retirement income,
with only one in five offering
guaranteed lifetime payouts.
This situation prompted Steve
Vernon of the Stanford Center on Longevity, Wade Pfau of
The American College of Financial Services and researcher Joe
Tomlinson to explore and devise solutions to “pensionize”
retirement plans. Their work,
first published last year and then
updated this year, finds that only
one-third of workers contact financial advisors, and most lack
the necessary skills to convert
savings into retirement income
and typically have short planning horizons.
But research from the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL)
and Society of Actuaries (SOA)
has found a “straightforward retirement strategy,” according to
the three authors. “Choosing a
specific solution that will help
workers generate retirement income requires them to make
informed tradeoffs between potentially competing goals,” they
explained, such as “maximizing
lifetime income; providing access to savings (liquidity); planning for bequests;
HUMAN RESOURCES
Navigating Employee Laws
The intersection of workers’
compensation with leave of b-sence and job accommodation
laws has become increasing
challenging. With the expanding
number of federal, state and municipal laws on the books, there
is also confusion about how and
when they overlap.
There are many inconsistent
approaches, and far too ma y
organizations are forced to compensate for their e rors.
The Challenges
Workers’ compensation stake
holders face a variety of hurdles
trying t navigate and impl
ment leave and accommodation
policies. The first hurdle that our
panel addressed is the expanding number of such laws.
According t experts, more
than 70 proposals introduced in
state legislatures this year have
a leave of absence component.
Some seek to expand existing
rights for unpaid leave, for example, covering relationships such
as siblings or domestic partners. Others concern paid family
leave. Although it’s unlikely that
we’ll see the federal government
adopt the idea, several jurisdictions are jumping on that band-agon. New York, Washington,
D.C., Washington State and Mas-sachus tts are in the process of
developing regulations to implement such laws.
Another challenge facing or
ganizations i ensuring their
policies correctly ad- Y16
FOCUSREPORT:
FRAUD
The phone channel is currently a major
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unions. In this Focus Report, experts explain
how cooperatives can mitigate call center
fraud while maintaining the high-quality
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Cybersecurity
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Deepen your
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For Payday
Rules, It’s
Déjà Vu
DAVID BAUMANN
dbaumann@cutimes.com
aseball icon Yogi Berra
supposedly once said,
“It’s déjà vu all over
again.”
It’s not clear what Berra might
have been talking about or if he
really said it.
But these days, it could apply to
regulation of payday loans.
In 2017, under former Director
Richard Cordray, the CFPB issued
strict rules governing the short-term lending procedures.
But when Kathy Kraninger took
over the agency, the Trump Administration appointee proposed
revoking a key part of the rule –
the requirement that a borrower
demonstrate an ability to repay
the loan.
And she proposed delaying the
underwriting portion for an additional 15 months, to Nov. 19, 2020.
Meanwhile, under the original Cordray rule, the agency
gave credit unions that used the
NCUA’s Payday Alternative Loan
model a safe harbor.
But then, the credit union regulator began discussions about another payday alternative program,
although no final rules have been
issued yet.
Credit union officials contend
that places them in a particularly
thorny position. If the CFPB rules
are finalized before the Y18
REGULATIONS
redit unions in Wyoming and Iowa may
have launched an
emerging trend for
corporate headquarters that have
been designed to attract entrepreneurs for new retail opportunities,
and enhance member and community engagement.
The $1 billion Blue Federal
Credit Union is building a three-
story, 74,750-square-foot head-
quarters on a vacant 8.6-acre
shopping center site. What’s
more, the Cheyenne, Wyo.-based
credit union is revitalizing the en-
tire commercial site with the con-
struction of a two-story commu-
nity/employee training center, a
branch adjacent to about six retail
shops, a pedestrian garden center,
park plazas and walking paths.
And in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the
$1.3 billion Collins Community
Credit Union is constructing a
100,000-square-foot headquarters that will have a three-story
atrium, a flagship branch with
movable walls, a rooftop patio,
a gym, a community/employee
training center, a gender-inclusive
bathroom and 12,000 square feet
for new retail stores.
“The whole reason for [the
eight-acre revitalization project] is
that we wanted to engage the community; it was a big, big focus for
us,” Blue FCU CFO Kim Alexander
said. “This site has just been
CUs Set New Headquarters Trends
PETER STROZNIAK
pstrozniak@cutimes.com
Y17
GROWTH STRATEGIES