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Comments

[Mike Bissett]

Mark,

Mark my company works with approx. 75 credit unions. We asked one of the CEOs of a large credit union to talk about his challenges. This what he said. Thought you may find it interesting and would also like to hear your comments. A number of us have heard you speak in the past and value your opinion.

Maintaining adequate net worth and earnings despite the challenging environment and extraordinary expenses beyond our control.

Managing risk: credit risk, compliance risk, security risk, etc.

Legislative and regulatory risk…managing the unknown coming out of Washington. Scary!

Growing a business (loans) during periods of low consumer confidence.

Leveraging technology to increase sales and gain efficiencies.

Keeping the focus on the member despite all of the chaos.

Increasing platform sales and deeping relationships.

Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.

[Mark]

Mike,

Wow--that's a lot to digest! You've touched on many key issues we are all struggling with these days. I'll provide some brief comments below on each of your areas:

Expenses beyond control--Certainly the biggest challenge for CUs today; you must be absolute budget hawks with every expense in your control and then keep morale up in the process (a tall order).

Managing risk--The key word is "managing." Don't avoid risk; those that take risk in this economy could reap biggest rewards in the recovery.

Legislative--We must be proactive with our members and get ahead of the curve. Be sure you are telling your members' stories to Congress and communicating legislative issues to your members.

Business loans--Now is absolutely is the perfect opportunity to grab this piece of business. Other lenders' troubles are our opportunities; it's about perspective.

Leveraging technology--Negotiate with your technology vendors and always look at technology from your members' viewpoint (not your staff's).

Member foucs--That is the absolute key and #1 on the task list; if you focus on your members, you win.

Deepening relationships--Instead of focusing on new members maybe this is the year you focus more on your existing folks. Adopt a "+1" strategy where you get all your members to get 1 extra product with the credit union.

I hope these comments help. I intentionally kept them brief although we could write much more about each issue!

In summary, we could look at these times in one of two ways: negatively because of the economy or positively because of the opportunities. Credit unions that choose to seize opportunities will be the ones that succeed.

[Mike Mercer]

Mark,

Your piece about your dad brought back lots of memories for me. I started with US Central in late 1976. John was present for every discussion that took place in the formative years of the corporate CU system. He was passionate and persistant. It doesn't surprise me that he made you read CU Times!

Keep doing good things...the proverbial apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Mike Mercer