Vice Chairman Hood Addresses
Risk Management and Shared Branching
Two featured speakers for upcoming Risk Mitigation Summit announced
October 24, 2006, Alexandria, VA- National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Vice Chairman Rodney E. Hood addressed the Credit Union Service Corporation’s (CUSC) Shared Branching Forum in Charleston, South Carolina. Vice Chairman Hood updated credit union and league executives with risk management best practices and praised credit unions for their participation in Shared Branching Networks.
During his remarks regarding risk management, Vice Chairman Hood commended Shared Branching Networks for serving as a sound component of a successful risk management plan, and discussed best practices for credit unions to manage risks while maintaining safety and soundness, especially during and after natural disasters. “I take risk management very seriously and believe that risks should be managed, and not avoided,” said Mr. Hood. “Managing events like natural disasters is a vital component of mitigating the broad array of risks that credit unions face every day. The key is preparation.”
While emphasizing the importance of risk management, the Vice Chairman highlighted his upcoming Risk Mitigation Summit on January 11, 2007 in Washington, DC at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The free, one-day Summit will feature a cross-section of Credit Union professionals, Wall Street analysts, and government officials to discuss futuristic trends in balance sheet management and credit risk analysis. Federal Reserve Governor Susan Bies will serve as the keynote speaker. In addition, Vice Chairman Hood announced today that Robert Couch, President of Ginnie Mae and Leo Tilman, prominent Wall Street analyst, will be serving as featured speakers at the Summit. As President of Ginnie Mae, Mr. Crouch manages a $404 billion dollar mortgage backed securities program designed to make affordable housing a reality for millions of low and moderate income households across America. Mr. Tilman is a risk management expert and recently returned from China, where he was consulting the Chinese government regarding balance sheet and risk management issues.
Throughout his speech, Vice Chairman Hood praised credit unions for enhancing member services through their participation in Shared Branching Networks. “I applaud the innovative and pro-active steps that CUSC has taken in building an impressive Shared Branching Network which is helping connect credit unions around the world to their members,” said Vice Chairman Hood. “Shared branching is unique to the credit union system and clearly embodies the ‘people helping people’ philosophy. While other financial services providers are typically far too territorial and concerned of customer flight to attempt shared branching, credit unions are rising above that while clearly demonstrating their cooperative spirit by putting the needs of their members first.”
Vice Chairman Hood also voiced the urgent call for Shared Branching Networks to make the needs of the underserved a top priority. “I find it disappointing that the bank trade groups have placed credit unions in a position where they are prevented from serving America’s most vulnerable consumers, leaving them behind to the hands of predatory and payday lenders. I charge you with the task of exploring opportunities where your services can help hardworking people have access to financial services and I look forward to working together with America’s credit unions to ensure that America’s underserved don’t remain underserved.”
The National Credit Union Administration is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, also operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the deposits of nearly 85 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the majority of state-chartered credit unions.
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