Jul 1, 2019
On this bonus episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Karen Shaw Petrou of Federal Financial Analytics discusses her recent paper on whether credit unions are succeeding in their statutory mission to serve customers of “small means” — and what it means for the growing problem of economic inequality. Among other topics, she discusses:
- The lack of metrics collected or disseminated by the National Credit Union Administration on credit unions’ statutory mission
- How efforts to measure this performance are complicated by NCUA’s expansive definition of “low income”
- Examples of credit union lending that does not appear to comply with the statutory mandate that credit be made for “provident and productive purposes”
- Policy options for Congress and NCUA that might help ensure CUs fulfill their purpose, including a “mission survey”