CUNA recently commissioned an analysis of the financial impact of regulation on credit unions. In an interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence, Alabama Credit Union’s Steve Swofford spoke about the credit union’s “involvement in the study, the importance of scale, and the tax-exempt status of credit unions.”
Swofford, president of the Tuscaloosa-based credit union with $700 million in assets, wanted to immediately be involved when he first heard that the study was being planned.
“Our credit union is very active politically,” said Swofford. “We attend all the Washington events. We write comment letters, and we have all of our employees, staff and even members write Congressmen and Senators when issues arise. And invariably we’re up there [in Washington D.C.] nowadays talking about regulatory burden. So when I heard about the study, I thought it would be natural for our credit union to do that because it would support our arguments when we go up to D.C.”
Swofford continues in the interview to talk about the number of staff his credit union has to dedicate to regulatory tasks, his feelings on keeping small credit unions in operation, and his fear of the Dodd-Frank Act forcing smaller institutions out of business.
Read the complete interview.