NCUA Media Advisory

Fryzel Commends Credit Union Sense of Purpose During Crisis  

June 9, 2009, Alexandria, Va. – National Credit Union Administration Chairman Michael E. Fryzel commended New Jersey Credit Union League members for being proactive in serving their members, and enthusiastic and skillful in working with Congressional legislators during his presentation to the league June 4, 2009 in Township, New Jersey.

“The credit union industry and NCUA have been through a difficult and challenging 10 months, Chairman Fryzel told league members. “While I do not stand before you today and say that the days ahead are going to be easy, I can tell you that working with Congress, working with the Administration, and working with the industry, NCUA has put in place a Program that will give credit unions a chance to continue doing what you do best, provide consumers with fairly priced cooperative financial services, without incurring a severe financial hit to your balance sheets.

“Despite unprecedented upheavals during what some are calling the most difficult year in the first century of the credit union industry, the record we have established is unarguably positive. When the history of the corporate crisis is finally written, it will be noted that not a single member lost a penny of insured funds, that credit unions took care of the problem without a taxpayer bailout, that every wire transaction, every payment and every transfer was accomplished without interruption. In short, despite tremendous stresses on both the corporate and natural person credit union parts of the industry, we were able to make “business as usual” the word of the day. And for that, I believe we all deserve credit,” Chairman Fryzel said.

Fryzel also commended New Jersey credit unions for their proactive efforts involving chartering new credit unions, student loan participation and seeking a new state law that would allow credit unions to accept government deposits.

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 90 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the majority of state-chartered credit unions.

- NCUA -