Banks "Vicious" in Strategy, Oregon Pay Flap `Gossip,' Says GTE FCU's Sebastian

TAMPA, Fla. – Across a wide front, the banking industry is waging a vicious “diversion” strategy against credit unions, and the battle ranges from that Oregon flap over CEO salaries to the attacks over field-of-membership expansion and tax exemption. That assessment of so many banking “untruths” comes from Bucky Sebastian, president/CEO of the $1.8 billion GTE FCU here, who called on the CU leadership at the state and national levels to draft new strategies to recognize banking’s new tactics. Speaking as a moderator at the annual CEO Roundtable held in New Orleans for top managers of CUs in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, the GTE FCU CEO said the salary disclosures in Oregon “are really just gossip” and the issue there has been “taken completely out of context.” The headlines in Oregon newspapers over million dollar salaries of top CEOs were probably the work of bankers, Sebastian speculated arguing Oregon law apparently made it easier to obtain CU data as Portland area reporters began sifting through tax filings. Given the non-profit structure of CUs, Sebastian said the disclosure of salaries “is really something between the board and the CEO” and has no business getting this much public attention. That is particularly the case, he went on, considering the heavy responsibilities a typical CEO performs in running a large and diverse coop structure. Sebastian accused the banking industry of putting up so many “diversions” or roadblocks to CU expansion that the lobbying job is made tougher for state Leagues and the national trade organizations to get through to members of Congress, but it is one that must be addressed vigorously to educate the public and lawmakers on the beneficial role CUs play in the economy and their non-profit structure. But an overriding issue, stressed Sebastian, remains for the trades to recognize the expanding interstate environment for CUs and its impact on the function of state leagues relating to dues and governance. “Look, we’re adding a New Orleans credit union at the end of the month and Chartway of Norfolk is opening up two branches in Tampa Bay and Xerox CU of California has a branch in St. Petersburg,” declared Sebastian. His references were apparently to GTE’s acquisition of the $21 million NOME FCU in New Orleans following an NCUA-orchestrated bidding procedure, plus Chartway FCU in Virginia opening two St. Petersburg branches and Xerox of El Segundo making wider use of a community charter in the Florida city. Sebastian said CUs have a continuing problem of “reeducating” lawmakers who were “not around for (H.R.)1151″ and now are hearing “so many bold lies” told by bankers “over and over again.” He said the CU lobby had done an outstanding job – in that “we’re not losing ground” but it’s hard to say “we’re gaining ground” either. On the subject of interstate environment, it is imperative, said the Florida CU executive, that state leagues study carefully their new lobbying roles “because there are many ramifications” on dues and advocacy. “Does a credit union with branches in one state now have to pay additional government relations expenses in another state?” he asked. There used to be a handful of the largest CUs with interstate operations like Navy Federal, but now the financial landscape “has changed rapidly” and dramatically. [email protected]