CUNA’s Nussle touts credit unions’ value at GAC
CUNA CEO Jim Nussle was spitting fire Monday on the value of credit unions as he took center stage during CUNA’s annual Governmental Action Conference (GAC), emphasizing the cooperative movement’s mission to promote financial well-being for all while simultaneously communicating credit unions’ values of dependability, trust, loyalty, and commitment to the underserved throughout America.
Nussle energized the crowd by speaking to the heart of the credit union movement by reminding attendees of the banking deserts they’re left to fill after other institutions’ desertion. “Banks are abandoning communities, and the ones that are left aren’t locally-owned anymore,” he thundered. “Bank deserts are all over the place.”
He brought the receipts, too. According to a Federal Reserve report, from 2012 to 2017 banks shed 6,764 branch locations in the U.S. In 2022, the Fed identified more than 2,100 existing and potential banking deserts across the country, affecting approximately 34 million households at least partially outside the financial mainstream. Additionally, the majority of those banking deserts in the U.S. are located in rural areas, with less than 25 percent located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).
It’s obvious Nussle’s leadership emphasizes advocacy for the needs of credit union members, both rural and urban, due to the fact credit unions’ value inherently lies in knowing how to best serve the communities they inhabit.
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