Chip Filson is the smartest person I know in credit union land. He has seen it all and done it all. And he continues to be highly respected and a great cheerleader for credit unions.
However, today in this terrible financial market, credit unions may need more than cheerleading. We have individual and systemic issues. We have problems that threaten our movement from inside and out. These issues require some tough analysis of the entire movement. Sort of a critical look at who we are and what we should be doing. Cheerleading is good and probably appropriate in large gatherings of credit union folks, however I wonder if we couldn't use a Wil Magnus type of leader. Someone who would look under the hood and tell us why we aren't running on all cyclinders. Someone who could put the "we are movement" stuff aside and talk about how we survive in the year 2010. // Chuck
Article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
When the American financial industry collapsed late last year, the country's member-owned credit unions kept on lending while commercial banks cut back on loans, a credit union consultant told several hundred people at a Las Vegas conference on Tuesday."We didn't wait for the government, and we didn't wait for government programs," Charles "Chip" Filson told members of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues on the second of a three-day conference at The Mirage. Filson is president of Callahan & Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm for credit unions and former supervisor of the Illinois Credit Union Division.
"Credit unions are filling a void left by the market-based institutions," Filson said, adding that banks have curtailed lending despite getting money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"At this very same time, credit union loan originations are at an all-time high. Your institutions have continued to lend," Filson said. "Sometimes, the market doesn't always produce the right or best solution."
Banking industry representatives rebutted Filson's comments. [Read story at LasVegas Review-Journal/by John G. Edwards].
