Firefighter Credit Union Newsroom

  CUNA Mutual Group’s latest report said lower interest rates are being driven by the market’s expectations that Americans will take longer to reach herd immunity from COVID-19 than previously expected. In February, CUNA and CUNA Mutual Group forecast the 10-year Treasury rate would rise from 0.90% in 2020’s fourth quarter to reach 1.50% by this year’s fourth quarter. Its April forecast raised the estimate to 2% by this year’s fourth quarter. Its June forecast showed no change. CUNA Mutual Group’s Credit Union Trends Report released Tuesday said long-term interest rates have been falling since March 31 when the 10-year Treasury interest rate hit 1.74%. It recently fell below 1.2% — down more than 50 basis points in three months. Steven Rick, chief economist for CUNA Mutual Group and the report’s author, wrote that the drop in long-term interest rates has, in turn, pushed down interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. Freddie Mac showed the 30-year fixed rate started the yea...

WASHINGTON—Federal agencies are stepping up their efforts to help public- and private-sector organizations protect themselves from attack. A new website, StopRansomware.gov , has been designed to be a one-stop shop where individuals, businesses and other organizations can find resources to help mitigate their ransomware risk. Launched July 15 by the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and other federal partners, the site consolidates ransomware information from all federal agencies, “reducing the chances organizations miss important information on the latest ransomware-related alerts and threats from DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Departments of the Treasury and Health and Human Services,” according to the government and GCN.com. Simple Steps The Justice Department further said StopRansomware.gov aims to help organizations take simple steps to...

MADISON, Wis.—The COVID-19 pandemic stalled much of the economy, but it didn’t hurt the take-home pay and other benefits paid to credit union executives. According to CUES’ new Executive Compensation Survey, base salary, base salary plus bonus, and total compensation packages increased last year across credit unions. CUES said other key findings from this year’s report include: Median total compensation increases ranged from 3.2% for senior CUSO Executives to 6.9% for chief executive officers Average total compensation increases ranged from 3.4% for e-commerce executives and chief financial officers to 6.8% for chief executive officers More than 20% of CEOs have the Certified Chief Executive designation, which is earned by completing CUES’ CEO Institute program The top four factors which determined CEO bonuses were board evaluation, earnings, loan growth, and membership growth All of the data is available in CUES Executive Compensation Survey and/or CUES Employee Salary Survey , whi...

The National Association of Realtors reported sales of existing homes in June showed their first month-to-month gain since January, and said it expects feverish price gains will start to ebb later this year. Existing homes sold in June at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million units, 1.4% higher than in May with sales flat in the South, but up in all other regions. Sales rose 22.9% from June 2020 with double-digit gains in every region. NAFCU Chief Economist Curt Long on Friday said he expects sales will remain strong for the rest of the year, but will remain limited by availability and affordability. “Demand is ebbing somewhat from its frenzied levels of earlier this year, but that is only encouraging buyers who sat out the rush to re-enter the market,” Long said. “A further improving economy and raising wages will also boost sales into the medium and long term.” The unadjusted median existing-home price rose from $350,400 in May to $363,300 in June, up 23.4% from a year e...

On Wednesday, members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee met to discuss the merits of the proposed Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act to find possible solutions to the unbanked problem in the United States. According to letters sent to the committee by NAFCU and CUNA, the legislation under consideration is supported by both organizations. In it, the legislation would give federal credit unions the ability to expand their field of membership (FOM) by adding underserved areas. Current regulation only allows multiple common bond credit unions to take this action. “As Congress grapples with ways to ensure that underserved and unbanked populations have access to affordable financial services, credit unions want to be able to help,” NAFCU’s vice president of legislative affairs, Brad Thaler, wrote . “Unfortunately, many credit unions are limited by the restriction on adding underserved areas to their FOM. One area where this legislation would be extremely he...

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LYON, France—The world’s largest police organization is warning that a marked rise in the number of ransomware attacks is coming. INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock urged police agencies and industry partners to work together to prevent what looks like a future “ransomware pandemic.” Stock said the best tactic to disrupt a seemingly never-ending stream of ransomware attacks is to adopt the same international collaboration strategy used when fighting organized crime and terrorism, Bleeping Computer reported. "Despite the severity of their crimes, ransomware criminals are continuously adapting their tactics, operating free of borders and with near impunity," Stock said during the INTERPOL High-Level Forum on Ransomware. "Much like the pandemic it exploits, ransomware is evolving into different variants, delivering high financial profits to criminals,” Stock continued. “Ransomware has become too large of a threat for any entity or sector to address alone; the magnitu...

ARLINGTON, Va.–There’s been no shortage of discussion and debate around all the “new normals” created by the coronavirus pandemic. But what about the field of economics? What kinds of new thinking about economic metrics has the long shutdown of much of the world’s economy meant? “There are some things I think are still in flux and that haven’t been fully calcified,” said NAFCU’s chief economist,” Curt Long. “I think the biggest one of those is fiscal stimulus. As we look ahead to episodes of economic downturns, the experience during COVID provided a lot of evidence in midst of a real economic crisis that economic stimulus is a very, very powerful tool to support an economy. “But there are also a lot of side-effects to take to into account. The way inflation shapes up in the next six months may have a lot to say about what do in next crisis and using the level of economic stimulus in the ways we did,” Long continued. “It has potential implications for non-crisis times, as well. The ...

WASHINGTON–The chairman of the Federal Reserve told the House the current increase in inflation is temporary, although it will remain elevated in the months ahead before moderating. Fed Chairman Jay Powell’s comments before Congress came on the same day the Fed released its Beige Book analysis, which found an economy showing increasing strength, but also suffering shortages of many materials and manpower. During his testimony before House Financial Services Committee as part of his semiannual monetary policy report to Congress, which he will repeat today before the Senate, Powell said asset valuations have generally risen as the economy has improved and investor risk appetite has grown. “Household balance sheets are, on average, quite strong, business leverage has been declining from high levels, and the institutions at the core of the financial system remain resilient,” Powell said. What About Inflation? As for inflation, which is of conce...

ALEXANDRIA, Va.–NCUA said it is now prepared to move into the first phase of resuming onsite operations in some areas of the country. In Letter to Credit Unions 21-CU-06, NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said the agency consulted with its public health consultant before deciding it would begin returning to the on-site exams. “As part of Phase 1, NCUA staff and contractors will be permitted to volunteer to work on-site beginning July 19, 2021,” the letter states. medium“During Phase 1, staff may only volunteer to work onsite in locations where public healthdata indicates pandemic conditions have sufficiently moderated. “To the extent they exceed the NCUA’s safety protocols for Phase 1, NCUA staff working onsite in credit unions will generally be expected to follow credit union policies related to safety and security,” the letter continues. “To the extent possible, the NCUA will respect a credit union’s preference to not have examination staff onsite during this phase. However, the NCUA reserve...

A Memphis consulting company said it expects a flood of pandemic-delayed mergers this year among banks and credit unions. “Mergers delayed due to the pandemic are now in full force and more complex,” according to a report Monday from Strategic Resource Management, Inc. (SRM). The consulting company cited data from S&P Global Market Intelligence showing mergers postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic are extending to regional and super-regional banks holding $10 billion to $1 trillion in assets. “ We expect to see even more mergers among these banks in the coming months, which will continue to impact competition in the marketplace,” the SRM report said. The S&P report released July 8 showed no credit unions met the $314 million threshold for the 20 largest deals announced from January 2020 through June 2021. However, three credit unions made S&P’s list of the 20 “most expensive” deals over the same 18-month period. The deals are ranked by the value of the deal as a percent of ta...

NEW YORK—Americans are borrowing again, in some cases at levels not seen in more than a decade. Consumer demand for auto loans and leases, general-purpose credit cards and personal loans was up 39% in April compared with the same period last year, according to Equifax. It was also up 11% compared with April 2019. As CUToday.info reported here , Fed data confirm the increase in consumer credit, as well as credit unions’ growing share of the market. Equifax said lenders bumped up credit card originations, issuing more general-purpose credit cards than any other March on record. Equifax’s data goes back to 2010. The company further reported lenders extended a record number of auto loans and leases in March, the latest month for which data are available. They also bumped up credit-card originations, issuing more general-purpose credit cards than any other March on record. Equifax’s data goes back to 2010. “It is quite the reversal from 2020, when many people shunned credit cards, personal...

WASHINGTON–President Biden’s recent sweeping executive order aimed at increasing competition includes a number of provisions related to financial services. Among those provisions are orders the Department of Justice and agencies responsible for banking to update guidelines on banking mergers "to provide more robust scrutiny of mergers," and further encourages the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue rules that will allow bank customers to withdraw their data to make it easier to switch banks.” The details on what precisely both of those directions mean have not yet been provided and will most likely need to be hammered out by the respective agencies involved. Moreover, such Executive Orders often go no further than to “encourage” various institutions to take actions without specifically requiring specific steps. The Biden Administration has cited concerns over the disappearance of bank branches in many communities that have created so-called “banking deserts.” The ...

WASHINGTON–The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has sent a letter to the Federal Home Loan Banks cautioning that some of the alternatives being proposed for the soon-to-expire LIBOR may pose safety, soundness and reputational risks. The letter from FHFA Deputy Director Andre D. Galeano to the presidents and CFOs of the FHLBs notes that in recent months “several organizations in the marketplace have announced or introduced other potential alternative reference rates that may be inconsistent with established principles for an acceptable reference rate.” LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate, is no longer to be offered for use with new contracts and will be phased out completely for existing contracts by June 2023. Galeano wrote that FHLB use or adoption of the alterative rates “may significantly pose the same safety and soundness and reputational risks that befell LIBOR.” SOFR Cited Instead, stated Galeano, the alternative rate developed by the Federal Reserve, the Secured Overn...

WASHINGTON—The new employment numbers released last week, which showed a surge in hiring, are being described as “solid” by one economist. Curt Long The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported non-farm payrolls increased by 850,000 in June, and the unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.9%. Of note, May's number was revised up slightly to a gain of 583,000. "The June jobs report was a solid one, in line with expectations," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long. “Monthly growth was the strongest since last summer's reopening, but a significant portion of the gain came from education payrolls as fewer teachers left their jobs at the end of the school year. While those positions add to the job gain totals, they do not affect the number of employed workers, which is one source of the discrepancy between strong job growth last month and an unemployment rate that failed to budge.” Average hourly earnings rose 10 cents in June. Year-over-year wage gro...

WASHINGTON–The Federal Reserve has released a new tool it said is aimed at helping smaller banks calculate their allowances under the new current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting standard.  According to the Fed, the new spreadsheet-based tool is called the “Scaled CECL Allowance for Losses Estimator” (SCALE). The Fed said it draws on publicly available regulatory and industry data to aid community banks with assets of less than $1 billion. The CECL accounting standard took effect for most public financial institutions in 2020, but smaller banks are not required to meet the standard, the same date most credit unions have to comply following the adoption of a recent rule by the NCUA board. The Fed said SCALE will be officially launched July 15 in conjunction with a webinar during which it will answer questions about the new tool. The event will feature representatives from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Registratio...