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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 source of account takeover attacks at credit unions. In this Focus Report, experts explain how cooperatives can mitigate call center fraud while maintaining the high-quality member service they’re known for. Y6

Auto Remarketing Popularity

Leverage it to strengthen your portfolio. Y14

Cybersecurity Trends

Deepen your knowledge of the top five. Y8

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