​Thank you for that warm welcome. California is a great credit union state and it’s a pleasure to be here with you in Monterey.

As a regulator my first concern is the safety and soundness of credit unions. As I looked over the more than 50 credit unions affiliated with your Council I was heartened to see some encouraging numbers. Of course, your diversity is great. You have some very large credit unions—Kinecta and Community America—and some that are rather small and local. But your credit unions combine for more than $17 billion in assets and 1.7 million members. And you all have made outstanding efforts in maintaining high net worth and excellent CAMEL ratings.

To me this means that your Council credit unions have done a good job at weathering the difficult economic conditions that began with the financial crisis of 2008. Your member credit unions have higher net worth and higher loan-to-share ratios when compared to all credit unions in the nation. Your aggregate net worth is 10.30%, very much in the healthy range and, again, above average for all credit unions.

Most striking is that your member credit unions last year experienced almost three times the growth rate in members compared to all credit unions. This was very encouraging to see, especially considering the recent trials and tribulations of the automobile industry.