Donovan: Banks fight old battles while CUs work to help

Banks continue to fight “old, settled battles” as America’s credit unions remain focused on improving members’ financial well-being, CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan wrote Friday in Morning Consult. Donovan notes that banks still continue to claim that banks deciding to sell to credit unions (which has happened 42 times, compared to 2,343 instances of banks purchasing banks) are impacting tax revenue.

“Outrage over these transactions ignores the real issues at hand: Too many consumers are hurting, too many lack convenient access to safe and affordable financial services and too many small financial institutions – banks and credit unions alike – have found it impossible to keep up with the cost and complexity of compliance with an ever-increasing regulatory burden flowing out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulators,” Donovan wrote.

“This forces the leaders of struggling banks to either close or to fulfill their fiduciary duty to shareholders by taking the best offer available – whether it comes from a megabank, local competitor or credit union,” he added.

 

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