This past week's reader comments centered around Canada's banning of the b-word in marketing materials, the NCUA, the ICBA and CUSOs.
"Ban or No Ban, It's Time to Tell Your Credit Union's Story," Aug. 3
Natasha … I was glad to see your column re: "Canada Bans the B-word for Credit Unions."
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For reasons that make no sense (to me!), the world we live in seems to get a bit crazier every day. As if we didn't have enough tweetingly "stupid" going on at the highest levels of political discourse, and enough of an ongoing marketing/branding challenge pushing throughout our own industry community, we apparently have people staying up late to come up with more ways to confound, confuse, corrupt and conflict the simple matter of everyday forward progress.
Had to say "more" ways, instead of "new" ways … because this Canadian silliness is anything but new.
I don't know if your CU marketing career ran any parallel distance with my own – (I've been pushing the CU marketing envelope since 1979!), but this "b-word" issue has been one of my contentions for – ohmygosh – several decades now.
Tony Ward-Smith
"ICBA: High Legal Fees Evidence of 'Rank Incompetency' at NCUA," Aug. 3
Regardless of the issue at hand here, compared to the 2008 crisis, which was largely created by the banking industry, this legal issue here pales in comparison. Clearly, after these comments by the ICBA, certain credit union trade organizations should cease with boasting and celebrating their "collaborative" and "chummy" relationship with bankers on regulatory issues. They are not our allies. If you want to talk about what's really important, it should be a credit union industry cry to educate the public that the "bank meltdown risk" was never fixed and that we need to work to prevent another 2008 debacle by promoting a return to the Glass-Steagall restrictions.
BG M
"Credit Unions Look to Expand Business Services: Onsite at CUBG," Aug. 7
CUSOs are one of the best things to ever happen in the credit union world. Interestingly, things have finally come full circle. Small businesses had access to credit union loans in the very beginning, and since 1998, they have been able to serve businesses again.
WVF
"NCUA Proposed Merger Rules Unnecessarily Burdensome: Trades," Aug. 8
I understand the sentiment behind the proposed rule – let the members of the target credit union know if anyone (like the president) is getting a golden parachute from the acquirer, so members can decide if the acquirer was chosen based on merit or personal gain. Unfortunately, the NCUA tends to overstep. Just enforce GAAP as it pertains to future payout commitments, and make certain that is disclosed to the members, along with the do-nothing jobs that get created so they can keep certain people from the outgoing management team on the payroll while they search for their next job.
Ima Nutt
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