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Credit Union Times

NOVEMBER 11, 2020 | VOL. 31 | NO. 21 | CUTIMES.COM

FOCUSREPORT:

MERGERS: WHAT’SNEXT?

As with many areas of CU business, the COVID- 19 pandemic has thrownM&A activity off its steady course. In this Focus Report, experts discusshow this year’s economic upheaval has impacted CU mergers and bankpurchases, and the trends they expect to see in 2021. Y6

CECL: CUs’
Four-Letter
Word
DAVID BAUMANN

dbaumann@cutimes.com

our-letter words generally are considered pro-fanities that shouldn’tbe uttered in politecompany.

For credit unions, CECL perfectly fits the bill.

The Current Expected CreditLoss standard is a technical accounting method that officialsfrom NCUA Chairman RodneyHood to the president of the Indiana Credit UnionLeague have saidcould have a hugeimpact on creditunions.

And it’s been issued by a board– the Financial Accounting Standards Board – thatmost people have never heardof. FASB is an independent, not-for-profit organization that estab-lishes accounting and reportingstandards for public companies,private companies and not-for-profit organizations that followGenerally Accepted AccountingPrinciples.

Even the simplest explanationof CECL will leave most peoplescratching their heads.

Under the CECL standard,institutions will have to recognize the expected lifetime Y18

REGULATION

Hood

redit unions usecampus branches indifferent ways, butall have faced challenges in the pandemic.

In Maine, campus branches
are integral to University Credit
Union ($357.4 million in assets,
28,445 members as of June 30).
Three of its branches are located
on campuses of the state’s public
university system, and the other
five near a campus.

In South Carolina, FoundersFederal Credit Union, based onthe state’s northern edge, openeda branch five years ago on the University of South Carolina campusin Columbia, 60 miles to the southin the Midlands section of the state.

The campus branch served as
a beachhead to break into the
state’s capital city market while
cultivating ties with two intense
college rivalries that span genera-
tions and populate every South
Carolina county from the moun-
tains to the sea.

For both credit unions, campusbranches closed last spring afterthe World Health Organizationdeclared COVID- 19 a pandemicMarch 11. Those branches havereopened this fall, but contactswith students are fewer and account openings are down.

Founders is based in Lancaster,S.C., a city with a physical distance of 40 miles south of

CU MANAGEMENT

JIM DUPLESSIS

jduplessis@cutimes.com

COVID Slows CUs’ Efforts at Colleges

Y17

Must Reads

HIRING PRACTICES

Getting Serious About DEIIt’s an old, old story by now:Even though the business casefor diversity and inclusion hasbeen proven over and over andleaders in organizations saythey’re serious about spearheading initiatives for diversehires and teams, progress continues to be slow. Employeeshave taken notice, too – a recent study on company culturehighlighted 70% of respondentssaying their employers were focused on increasing diversityand inclusion in their companies, but only 50% reportedseeing diversity in leadershiproles. The same study noted amajority of respondents (41%)said racial diversity was lacking most at their organizations,while 15% felt gender diversitywas lacking.

So, how can things be movedalong? A new report from management consulting companyMercer, which surveyed morethan 1,150 companies in 54countries, shed some light on actions organizations can take togenerate real results on diversity.

First, some general numbers:According to the report, 40% ofthe global workforce is female.That’s up from 38% in 2016, whenMercer ran its last report. Femalerepresentation in executive andsenior management levels wentup by 3%, and 33 companieson the Fortune 500 are run bywomen.