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As the sun rose on Thursday to the vast amount of damage left behind by the massive Hurricane Ian to many southeastern Florida communities, the League of Southeastern Credit Unions President/CEO Patrick LaPine said the early reports from credit unions in the path of the storm haven't been as bad as they could have been.
"You know, it could have been a lot worse," LaPine said during an interview with CU Times early Thursday afternoon. "If you're watching the news, it's terrible for the individual Floridian impacted in those areas. But as a credit union industry, it could have been so much worse for us."
LaPine said fortunately in the area where Hurricane Ian made landfall, between Naples and Fort Myers, Fla., there aren't as many credit union branches as there are in the Tampa metropolitan area, where the original path of the hurricane was predicted to hit. He said the path of the storm took a fortunate line through the state, as far as the number of credit unions that might be impacted. He said he believes there are maybe 20 to 25 credit unions that will need help with recovery efforts.
Patrick LaPine He said his team has been in contact with numerous credit unions with branches in the hardest-hit areas, such as Suncoast Credit Union ($15.7 billion in assets, 1,056,574 members). "They've had several branches that have been significantly impacted," LaPine said. But details of the damage are slow to come in as communication systems are down and millions are without power.
LaPine said LSCU has been focused on making sure credit union employees are safe and to find out what needs they might personally have.
LSCU has been in contact with the National Credit Union Foundation's CUAid officials and has yet to activate the CUAid program.
LaPine said LSCU has been inundated with calls from credit unions and credit union partners asking what they can do to help. He said his team members are still collecting data to determine the needs of credit union employees recovering from the storm.
"At this point we're telling people the best things you can do is hold tight and give us another day or two to really do a full, proper assessment of the storm's impact down there," LaPine said.
To donate to Hurricane Ian relief efforts, LaPine asked people to give to the American Red Cross or the NCUF's CUAid program.
CU Times will update our reporting as we learn more information from LSCU and credit union officials in Florida.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
