Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Paying CU Directors -- More Acceptable; But Controversial

While credit unions paying their directors is becoming more acceptable, the controversy of paying credit union directors persists, according to a December 23 story in The American Banker.

While federal credit unions cannot pay their directors, state chartered credit unions in a dozen states have the authority to pay their directors and that number should grow over time.

Ben Rogers, research director at Filene Research Institute in Madison, Wisconsin and author of the study on compensating credit union directors, told the American Banker: "I think if we had done the study 10 years ago people would have said compensating directors was absolutely against the ethos of credit unions, but today it is much more acceptable."

According to research by the Filene Research Institute (Filene), 145 credit unions in 12 states pay their board members with directors earning between $60 and $37,597 per year. The study said that in 2012 large credit unions paid four times more than smaller credit unions.

Click on this link to view average director pay by state.

The Filene study pointed out that there is a growing evidence of credit unions using compensation to attract and retain qualified board members given the heighten demands on credit union directors.

However, the article noted that paying directors may have policy implications with regard to the credit union industry's preferential tax treatment, as paying directors further erode the distinction between banks and credit unions.

Read the story (subscription required).

1 comment:

  1. Have not read the research but if memory serves me,
    145 is about what it was 10 years ago.
    Filene, conflicted by its dependence on credit unions, likely did not include how much the uncompensated directors are compensated via junkets.
    Know of directors expensing $50,000+ per year and a true research piece would "dig" into that stat to come up with an overall total and average per CU and per director.
    Those who make a living off the cornucopia of cu "conferences" would lynch Filene if they ran that by the media.
    There are so many cues, CUNA, Nafcu, league, nascus,etc conferences every month for only one reason and it ain't "leranin", it's earnin".
    With member's money.
    That may be why, when aea was "returned to the members", the members replied resoundingly with a yawn. If they knew the real story, instead of "huh?", they might have said "keep it".

    ReplyDelete

 

The content is provided for educational purposes only, with the understanding that neither the authors, contributors, nor the publishers of this site are engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other expert or professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Comments appearing in response to articles appearing on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the ABA. ABA makes no representations regarding the truth or accuracy of commentary or opinions that may be posted in response to the articles that appear on this website.

The inclusion herein of any link to a website, either in the text of an article or in a comment, does not denote any approval, sponsorship, or endorsement by the ABA, and ABA is not responsible for the content or opinions expressed on those linked websites or related commentary. This content is not licensed to third parties sites and is not affiliated with any third party site. Any reference to the author or this content on any third party site on the Internet is not authorized by the ABA.

It is the policy of the American Bankers Association to comply fully with all antitrust laws. Certain discussions should be considered off-limits, including those that contain competitively sensitive data such as price and cost information, or statements that could be construed as reflecting an attempt or desire to control or influence a particular market or markets. Future pricing or other prospective competitive information should never be shared.