WASHINGTON-Several top credit union economists have collaborated to create the non-profit Credit Union Economics Group to provide credit unions a strategic view of the economy and consumer financial services. “Our goal is to provide an overall consensus economic picture with details on regional activity to help credit union leadership with their strategic planning,” Dave Dickens, senior vice president of asset & liability of U.S. Central Credit Union, said. “We will accomplish this task by tapping into a diverse pool of credit union-related expertise.” CUEG will prepare a regional economic credit union trends reports biannually, in addition to a consensus macroeconomic and industry trend forecast. CUEG’s objective is to provide credit unions with consensus macroeconomic forecasts and industry trend analyses that will be helpful in day to day operations. The reports will be available free of cost at www.cueg.org. The non-profit group will also provide a credit union perspective to NCUA and the Federal Reserve Board and its banks on economic trends. CUEG’s first meeting is scheduled for April 4 with Fed Governor Mark Olson. “We believe it is the unique perspective CUEG brings to the table that has attracted the interest of a Federal Reserve Board Governor and the Fed staff,” Dave Colby, assistant vice president and corporate economist for the CUNA Mutual Group, explained. “The Fed meets with an economic advisory group comprised of respected economists from the banking sector, and we believe our group will provide excellent insight from the consumer financial services perspective.” The founding members of CUEG include: * Bob Burrell, executive vice president, CIO, WesCorp, San Dimas, Calif. * Dave Colby, assistant vice president, corporate economist, CUNA Mutual Group, Madison, Wis. * Dave Dickens, senior vice president, asset/liability Management, U.S. Central CU, Lenexa, Kan. * Bruce Fox, senior vice president and senior investment officer, Southwest Corporate FCU, Dallas, Texas * Scott Mainwaring, executive vice president and CFO, Vystar Credit Union, Jacksonville, Fla. * Brian McVeigh, senior vice president and CFO, State Employees CU, Lansing, Mich. * Jeff Taylor, senior economist, NAFCU, Arlington, Va. * Tun Wai, director/research and chief economist, NAFCU, Arlington, Va. Absent a compelling reason for the group’s existence, CUNA decided not to join, according to CUNA Vice President of Communications Pat Keefe. He said that the informal cooperation the credit union economists have engaged in in the past is enough for CUNA. [email protected]