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Fryzel: Credit Unions Draw on a “Powerful Legacy of Common Purpose”

Board Member Praises Industry Cooperation, Expresses Hope for Future

ALEXANDRIA, VA (February. 26, 2013) – National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board Member Michael E. Fryzel told a crowd of more than 4,200 credit union officials that their joint vision and values rescued the industry from the recent recession and honored what their predecessors had created.

“Today we have a better, stronger infrastructure of not-for-profit, member-driven, democratic, cooperative financial institutions guided by their first principle: uplifting those who join,” Fryzel said. “During the recent financial crisis, the people who made up the credit union system held together, and because of that, the system held together. We all rolled up our sleeves. All of us hauled new timbers. We rebuilt the system ourselves, a system that is going to last.”

Fryzel’s speech, delivered to the Credit Union National Association’s Government Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C., recounted the recent trials the industry endured as a result of the Great Recession, but also took his audience back through the history of the industry and reminded them of the importance of credit unions to the security of America’s economy, working families and social fabric.

“We have a very powerful legacy of common purpose and cooperation,” Fryzel said. “Cooperatives lift everyone they touch, and lift all communities in which they work. By your great work, you have helped develop and expand the middle class in the United States and elevated families who wanted to move into the middle class.”

Fryzel praised credit unions for continuing to lend to members and their families to help them through difficult times. He talked about how people in the industry accepted challenges together and could take pride in their accomplishments and encouraged them to continue to live out their vision.

The full text of Board Member Fryzel’s address is available online.

NCUA is the independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress to regulate, charter and supervise federal credit unions. With the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, NCUA operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the deposits of nearly 94 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.

–NCUA–


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