Mica: Small Banks Should Watch Out for Larger Banks, Not CUs

WASHINGTON-CUNA President and CEO Dan Mica pointed out in an Oct. 12 American Banker letter to the editor, that small banks have more to fear from larger banks than from credit unions. He pointed out that as the new American Bankers Association Chair Betsy Duke stated that stopping credit union expansion would be a top priority for her in an American Banker article. She also said she was unsure what her new position would be within her bank once it was bought out by Wachovia Corp. Duke is the former president of small Bank of Tidewater in Virginia Beach that was recently purchased by SouthTrust, which was just bought by Wachovia. “Call me biased,” Mica wrote, “but this curious succession by the bankers’ leader raises a question in my mind: Why are bankers such as Ms. Duke so alarmed about credit union expansion when they and their banks themselves are being gobbled up by the big banks?”