CURRENT Newsletter | 5 November 2020
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Veterans Day: Your League's offices in Richmond and Lynchburg will be closed Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day. Have a safe and happy holiday! Closing Sign available here.
Headline News
- As Presidential Race Grips Nation, CU Lobbyists Pleased With Congressional Results
- How Much Bang Did CUNA Get for Its $3 Million on Election Day?
- League Hosting Small CU Webinar Nov. 17 on Digital Marketing
- Richmond Chapter Selling 2020 White House Ornament to Benefit VACUPAC
- CUs’ Hispanic/Latinx Outreach Success Part of Nov. 12 Webinar
Advocacy / Governmental Affairs
Compliance / Regulatory Affairs
Education & Training
Risk Management
News From Credit Unions
- Chartway Federal Credit Union Welcomes New Board Member
- Freedom First Adds VaLinda Hayes as Mortgage Loan Officer
Financial Services / Economic News
Headline News
As Presidential Race Grips Nation, CU Lobbyists Pleased With Congressional Results
Sen. Mark Warner cruised to a third term Tuesday. Your League formally endorsed Warner in his reelection bid. Of interest, the 7th Congressional District race between incumbent Abigail Spanberger (D) and Nick Freitas ® has yet to be called.
[Unofficial Election Results via the Virginia Department of Elections]
And while many remain focused on the nerve-wracking presidential race, credit union lobbyists are hailing the “return on investments” made by our Political Action Committees.
“We feel like our investments made an impact,” Trey Hawkins, CUNA’s deputy chief advocacy officer for political action, told reporters on a conference call.
He said that CUNA’s PAC has spent some $7 million supporting more than 400 House and Senate candidates, with some 330 candidates winning. See CUNA’s Elections webpage for details.
Ryan Donovan, CUNA’s chief advocacy officer, was not optimistic that the election will have much of an impact on how Congress operates.
“If the past is prologue, there’s going to be substantial gridlock,” he said.
CUNA officials stressed the need for Congress to continue to help credit unions and their members weather the economic impact of the pandemic. However, Donovan added that at some point, members of Congress will decide that they need to raise revenue to offset some of the costs of the pandemic.
He said that could lead to an examination of so-called tax expenditures, including a new look at the credit union tax exemption.
Related: CU-Friendly 117th Congress Elected
Related: Nussle: After Election, Time for CUs to Come Together
How Much Bang Did CUNA Get for Its $3 Million on Election Day?
The Credit Union National Association may have helped Republicans retain control of the Senate.
While a few races had not yet been called by Wednesday afternoon, it appeared the GOP was on track to maintain control of the Senate, particularly after long-shot races in South Carolina and Kentucky failed to go Democrats' way.
During the 2020 election cycle, the trade group and its federal political action committee, the Credit Union Legislative Action Council, spent more than $3 million on independent expenditures to support 11 incumbents — four senators and seven House members. The advertising, which consisted of direct mailings and digital ads, targeted swing voters and credit union households with positive messages about each candidate.
"We feel like in these priority races we made an impact," said Trey Hawkins, vice president of political affairs at CUNA, said Wednesday morning during a press call. "They were razor thin." (American Banker, Nov. 4)
League Hosting Small CU Webinar Nov. 17 on Digital Marketing
Your League is helping host a webinar Nov. 17 as part of the CUNA-Leagues Small CU Webinar series. During this webinar, we will talk about the tactics credit unions need to implement for a robust digital marketing strategy.
In our current climate, it is more important than ever to be forward-thinking when it comes to digital marketing for your credit union. Topics covered will include:
- Why is digital important to your marketing strategy?
- How do I get started with digital marketing?
- The top must-haves for successful digital marketing.
Programming in this series is FREE!
Richmond Chapter Selling 2020 White House Ornament to Benefit VACUPAC
The Richmond Chapter of Credit Unions will be selling the 2020 White House Ornament to benefit VACUPAC. The cost this year will be $25 for each ornament. To place an order, please send information to Chris Miller by Nov. 17. Payment is due by Nov. 30 (checks payable to Chris Miller).
In addition, if your staff would be interested in completing their collection and purchasing previous year's ornaments, they are available for order as well!
The White House Historical Association's Official 2020 White House Christmas Ornament honors John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States.
CUs’ Hispanic/Latinx Outreach Success Part of Nov. 12 Webinar
Credit unions that have increased membership via outreach to Hispanic and Latinx communities also improved their business performance, a recent CUNA study found. This CUNA study will be reviewed in detail during a Nov. 12 webinar available free to CUNA members.
Specifically, CUNA conducted an evaluation of the effect of credit unions’ participation in Coopera Consulting’s Hispanic Outreach Program and Inclusiv’s “Juntos Avanzamos” (“Together we advance”) designation.
Advocacy / Governmental Affairs
100% for VACUPAC
Chartway Federal Credit Union has reached a VACUPAC milestone with 100% pin-level participation from leadership and senior management. Pin-level participation requires a contribution to the Virginia Credit Union Political Action Committee of at least $25.
Our thanks to the Chartway team for helping us pursue a brighter future for the Commonwealth’s credit unions!
Compliance / Regulatory Affairs
CUNA Supports Revised Flood Insurance Q&As
CUNA supports the joint interagency review of flood insurance questions and answers in comments filed Tuesday but offers several suggestions for improvements.
The proposal includes the introduction of new questions and answers on the escrow of flood insurance premiums, force placement of flood insurance and the detached structures exemption.
It would also create a new system of designation for the questions and answers. They would be designated by the category to which it belongs and then designated in numerical order for that particular category under the proposed system, rather than numbering them successively through all the categories.
Education & Training
NCUA Hosting Webinar on Payday Alternative Loans, Short-Term Lending
Credit unions interested in offering payday alternative loans or other forms of short-term lending can get valuable advice from an upcoming webinar hosted by the National Credit Union Administration. The information presented in the November 16 webinar reinforces the NCUA’s commitment to expand the availability of safe and affordable credit to meet the needs of diverse and underserved communities as part of NCUA’s financial inclusion initiative, ACCESS: Advancing Communities through Credit, Education, Stability, and Support.
Registration for the Nov. 16 webinar, “PALs and Short-Term Lending,” is now open. It is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Eastern and run approximately 60 minutes. Participants will be able to log into the webinar and view it on their computers or mobile devices using the registration link. They should allow popups from this website.
Risk Management
COVID-19 Money-Laundering, Terrorism-Financing Risks Covered in Upcoming Webinar
The World Council of Credit Unions’ COVID-19 Response Committee will host a webinar Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. (ET) on COVID-19 related money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks. This is the second in a series of bimonthly webinars hosted by the committee, of which CUNA is a member.
Registration is open for the webinar, which will feature representatives from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the independent inter-governmental body recognized for setting global standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) responsibilities, World Council of Credit Unions and AML Rightsource, a firm focused on helping financial institutions find Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and financial crimes compliance solutions.
It will feature presentations on:
- The challenges, good practices and policy responses to new money laundering and terrorist financing threats and vulnerabilities arising from the COVID-19 crisis; and
- How credit unions and other cooperative financial institutions must advocate for proportional treatment on AML/CFT regulations.
News From Credit Unions
Chartway Federal Credit Union Welcomes New Board Member
Chartway Federal Credit Union is proud to announce that Jim Bibbs has been appointed to serve on its board. Prior to his appointment, Bibbs served on Chartway’s associate director development program, designed to provide a prepared slate of board succession candidates to ensure board leadership continuity.
Bibbs has more than 20 years of leadership experience developing and leading highly successful human resource infrastructures within multi-site, global, and Fortune 500 companies, including the Port of Virginia, Quintiles, and Citi. He currently serves as the chief human resources officer for LifeNet Health.
Freedom First Adds VaLinda Hayes as Mortgage Loan Officer
Freedom First Credit Union is excited to announce the addition of VaLinda Hayes to the Freedom First Mortgage Team. Hayes joins a team of four Mortgage Loan Officers serving homebuyers in the Roanoke and New River Valleys.
“VaLinda has more than fifteen years of experience in the mortgage industry and we are thrilled to have her high-level of commitment on our team,” says Senior Vice President Mortgage Paula Brown.
Financial Services / Economic News
Banks Rush to Take Fines Under Trump, Casting Light on Misdeeds
Giant banks have racked up more than $4 billion in U.S. penalties in a wave of settlements weeks before the presidential election. That says a lot about an industry that once vowed to behave after the 2008 financial crisis — and about the regulatory risks it sees ahead.
Goldman Sachs Group recently incurred a record punishment for foreign bribery under a roughly $3 billion package of accords for its role in Malaysia’s plundered 1MDB investment fund. JPMorgan Chase resolved a market-manipulation probe for more than $920 million. Citigroup was fined $400 million for failing to maintain adequate risk controls.
For the industry, that bulge of settlements — plus others — removes the threat of stiffer fines if President Trump loses this week and challenger Joe Biden installs more aggressive regulators to take over active probes. (American Banker, Nov. 3)
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