NCUA Media Advisory

SUCCESSFUL 75th ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM STRESSES SUSTAINABILITY

Alexandria, Va., June 10, 2009 – Sustainability, collaboration and change were the resounding themes of the 75th Anniversary Symposium hosted by NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland. Nearly 200 attendees participated in the Symposium, a free, two-day event, which offered a forum for lively discussion of the future of the credit union system.

In opening the Symposium, Board Member Hyland observed that “My main objective for this Symposium is to celebrate this unique business model and to provide a forum for conversation about its future sustainability.”  Given the current crisis, she continued, “Now is the time to be looking to the future, to discuss issues that have been bubbling within the credit union system for years and have now been brought to a head…My sincere hope is that this Symposium will give us a chance to effectively use this crisis to explore the issues that will affect the future of the U.S. credit union system…If there are ideas related to legislative and/or regulatory changes, my commitment is to take those ideas back to the NCUA Board for consideration.”

Keynote speaker Representative Paul Kanjorski noted that one of his goals is to remove what he deemed as some of the restrictive provisions of the Credit Union Membership Access Act during his tenure in Congress, including lifting the cap on member business loans.  He also urged credit unions to stay true to their mission of service to people.

Luncheon speaker John Hope Bryant, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Operation HOPE, Inc. said that the current economic crisis has given the nation an opportunity to “reset” its values in a way that will afford all of our citizens the ability to gain greater financial freedom. He noted that credit unions can play an important role in that effort, but firmly urged attendees to do everything they can to reach out to the youth of this country to use their enthusiasm and new ideas to help refresh and “reset” the credit union difference.

Each panel underscored the continuing need for collaboration amongst credit unions to assure their sustainability. Topics of discussion included other financial service models like the Desjardins of Canada, supplemental capital, the future of corporate credit unions, a new concept for a financial services cooperative charter, and leveraging affinity relationships between members to grow and be sustainable.

Presentations and other information from the Symposium will be posted to NCUA’s website within the next week.

The National Credit Union Administration is the independent federal agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), insuring the savings of 89 million members in all federal credit unions and the vast majority of state-chartered credit unions. NCUA is supported by credit unions, not federal tax dollars.