Commodore Perry FCU Ends "Appeal"...

Gorilla Tactics....

But "The Show" Still Goes On In Region 3...

... and the "leadership" attitude remains...

...."unappealing" !!

But in case you feel the need ...

That Time Of Year Again....

A-H-H-H SPRINGTIME !!!

Spent a couple of hours yesterday
 watching a grandson rearrange rocks in a creek;
 when he returned from the woods,
 he was no longer an only child !!
... A-h-h-h Springtime !!

SIRRTainly Silly ....

"Call me IRR-esponsible... 

Ah, Frank sang about it so well....

The leadership at the "new" NCUA has, evidently, just recently discovered  "the new world" of interest rate risk (IRR) management.

NCUA has become so excited about the "evidently-novel-to-them" concept of risk at a credit union that they've started to do some silly stuff - like make up "SOS"* risk ratios!  SIRRT is the latest and greatest example of "risky" thinking at the Agency.   * ("SOS" - "Stuck On Stupid")

Haven't heard about SIRRT yet?  Well get

Ratio Rant !!

ready; it's "about to go viral" among the NCUA field staff; and as you well know an examiner with a virus can make a lot of Credit Unions sick. SIRRT stands for "supervisory interest rate risk threshold" and is now included as one of those "we say this is important" ratios on your 5300 Call Report - financial performance summary (FPR).  

Sandbox IRR Threshold !!

The ratio is pretty juvenile.  It is the sum of your mortgages and >5 yr investments divided by your capital.  Doesn't make much sense, obtuse in terms of risk, not apparently used by anyone else on planet Earth, but lookout "the robust** NCUA gnomes" have invented a new toy - and guess who is going to have to play with it!   (** "robust" - English adj., meaning "written by an idiot")

What's the problem with SIRRT ? Three things...

Herd Instinct....

    "UNITE FOR GOATS !!"

B-A-A-A-A !!



         
B-A-A-A-A !!

Shoot From The Hip....

"Well now, let me
rephrase that..."

"Before entering a battle of wits, it's usually wise to check your ammunition."

Evolution....or Devolution... ?

Credit Unions:  

Are we becoming what we were created to correct ?

From the CUTimes:  "CUNA EVP of Credit Union System Relations Susan Newton made a point in an email to league presidents that trade association advocacy of a White House appointed and Congressionally confirmed regulator is inappropriate."

Ms. Newton said:  "While we admire and respect Chip and his passion and commitment, given CUNA's role here in Washington and our work with the Obama administration and Congress, we believe it is simply not appropriate for us to lead the effort. Any public involvement by CUNA to advance someone forward onto the board of the agency that we actively advocate with on a daily basis would likely be detrimental to both the candidate and us."



Just Ducking Around !!

What else is CUNA doing which is  more imporant than a competent NCUA Board - Biz loans?

Supplemental capital ? Another "talking head" TV cameo ?  Unite for Goats ?

If advocating for a competent candidate is below CUNA's dignity "given CUNA's role here in Washington"....

Day In Court ?...For A Fissilingual Agency....

Well today is the big day for Commodore Perry Federal Credit Union !!  

Really, I can explain ...

According to the CUTimes which has closely followed this saga: "NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz has granted the $32 million CPFCU a 60-day extension on its Supervisory Review Committee appeal.  NCUA Public Affairs Specialist John Fairbanks confirmed the extension, and said the new deadline was March 18."(CUTimes - 2/13/2013)

By George... !!

Of course, it's a bit Orwellian to have the Chairman of the Agency - whose examiner (the self-styled "Terminator") created the sexual harassment complaint and whose senior regional executive arbitrarily denied the original appeal without even reading CPFCU's detailed and documented submission - to grant the victim an extension of time to explain the misdeeds of her own staff !?!  

"Yes CPFCU, we certainly hope you can explain to us why our staff continues to act like this in Region III; and why you have the audacity to object, when we here in Alexandria have found numerous ways to overlook and "pooh-pooh" away continued credit union complaints.  But take an extra 60 days if it will make ya' feel better!"

Tough Love,  

The "New" Credit Union Administration

One would hope that CPFCU will persevere in its appeal and proceed on to court with this important matter.  But, that's asking a whole lot for any credit union - especially when all the rest of the credit union movement is playing the role of "free rider" on this expensive and time consuming show of courage by our $32 million peer.  

You can be sure that CPFCU will be offered the normal NCUA option: "Although we're flagrantly in violation of our own rules and federal law, we will forgive you.  But, you-are-forbidden-to-disclose-for-national-security-reasons the truth." And, the cover-up will be put in place.  George Orwell would smile knowingly if he were alive.

But let's all hope for the impossible, the miraculous! That CPFCU arches its back and proceeds on to federal court. Why? Because in court the NCUA Region III crowd must give up - under oath - its fissilingual machinations.  In court, NCUA's "options for storytelling" will 

- under oath - ...

Frontal Lobotomy....

Dr. Ben Carson is the chief pediatric neurologist at John Hopkins in Baltimore - one of the Nation's most prestigious medical centers.  

Open minded!

Dr. Carson has become somewhat the darling of many leaning-more-to-the-right types with his call for a return to traditional values in American government and politics.  Calls for a return to reasoned decision-making and common sense have come as something of a revelation to folks in The Beltway Kingdom and its' Alexandrine Duchy (or "Duke-dumb" if you prefer).

Here's what the good doctor had to say, at the annual CPAC Conference last week, about the vitriolic critics of his plain speaking:

"It's almost laughable what I hear some people say. 'He's a neurologist so he couldn't know anything about economics.' "

"Well, that's right economics...

From The Field...

"The school system invited us to participate in a student career day panel.  The students were required to listen to our spill regarding CU careers." 

(Sure we were a splash...)

Immunity From Prosecution...

Immunity with Impunity !!!

"I am concerned that the size of some institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute - if we do bring a criminal charge - it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General

Guess that's the new definition of the equal protection clause of the U.S.Constitution...

NCUA Board To Be Recognized At Today's Monthly Meeting...

Thomas Renz, the President of Commodore Perry FCU, last month received the National Leadership in Political Action Award from the CUTimes. The award presentation was held in Washington, DC and is a prestigious recognition - especially for a new president at a $28 million institution! Pretty 
impressive !!!  

Honored For
Resisting A Rollover !

As you may recall, Mr. Renz and CPFCU received the national award for standing firm in objecting to a sexual harassment violation by an NCUA examiner (the self-styled "Terminator") and a subsequently rigged and/or botched exam appeal.

The Terminator:
Lots of "outreach"....

In accepting the award (see CUTimes article/video 2/22/13), Mr. Renz said: "Most importantly I'd like to thank our examiner who made all this possible. Without him we wouldn't have anything to talk about.  Want to salute his wonderful behavior and his very touching outreach - no pun intended.  We want to thank him."

Mr. Renz went on to add:  "It's kind of a strange thing to get an award for doing no more than what was right; because that's really all we did. We simply didn't tolerate it.  We simply can't allow this sort of thing to happen."

Yes, it is kind of a strange thing that our national CU recognition awards should come to this...  All honor and praise to Mr. Renz and his folks at CPFCU, but shame on the rest of us.

Rumor has that it Mr. Renz may appear at today's NCUA Board meeting to, much like the Oscars, ....

Will Of The People....

Me - Me - Me - Me !

Was wrong yesterday about the best descriptive adjectives for The "I" Agency.  Believe columnist George Will nailed it with the following quote from his Sunday (3/10/2013) op-ed:


"Government (The NCUA) is failing spectacularly at its core functions, such as budgeting and educating.  Yet it continues to multiply its peripheral and esoteric responsibilities, tasks that require it to do things for which it has no aptitude, such as thinking and making common-sense judgments.  Government (The NCUA) nowadays is not just embarrassing, it is - let us not mince words - inappropriate."

....inappropriate !
(and "in-barrassing").

Have you signed the petition ?

www.coopsforchange.org

  

Crayola Economists...

"Pointed Heads..."

Quants are often the most self-assured and robust* of economists, but are, predictably, rarely the sharpest crayons in the box...

              .... if you get my point.

None other than Nichols Taleb, of Black Swan fame, said this about the danger of the Robusterians**:

"The environment in financial economics is reminiscent of medieval medicine, which refused to incorporate the observations of the plebeian barbers and surgeons. Medicine used to kill more patients than it saved - just as financial economics endangers the system by creating, not reducing, risk."

(Financial Times,  Oct. 2007)

* robust - English, adj. meaning "written by an idiot."

** Robusterian - (see "robust") meaning  "a practicing idiot."

What has become of these failed and discredited theorists given the indisputable failure of their economic fallacies ?

Heavy Weight....

Three Principles

Chip Filson has declared himself as a candidate for one of the upcoming vacant seats on the NCUA Board.  

Mr. Filson offers an unusual platform. He suggests that an NCUA Board member should: 1) be selected in a public, transparent process, 2) should be well-versed in cooperative, financial principles and 3) should be qualified and competent.

Clearly Mr. Filson is a silly idealist, but...

From The Field...

"At the close of a busy, busy, "all-day-crush" Friday, one staff member said (speaking on behalf of most everyone!):  "I just want to get in my car, drive home, pour a glass of wine, put on my pajamas, unplug the phone and TV and curl up with one of those "ashamed-(almost!)-of-the-cover" romance novels."

She did what ??

"On arriving home , she had a few chores to do. First on the list, take care of the dog! She let the dog out and fixed the dog's meal and medication. When the meal was ready she gave it to the dog and then, still in rush-rush mode, she proceeded to scarf down the dog's heartworm medicine..."

(Well, good news is the medicine seems to be working fine... no sign of heartworms.... so far..)

The "Missing" $2 Billion From The CLF....

"You betcha I
can explain all this..."

Mr. John Fairbanks, NCUA's "I-can-explain-everything!" spokesperson, held forth in the CUTimes (3/7/12) yesterday on the latest round of "Pass The Cash" over at the Agency. This time around it would appear that NCUA has "laundromatted" $2 billion of CLF funding held at US Central on behalf of credit unions - or at least so claims Chip Filson. 

"Really, I-can-explain-all-this...."

Mr. Fairbanks has stepped in for "the spin cycle" and to provide distance from the muck and "plausible deniability" for the muckety-mucks. Fairbanks' line of defense was to throw out a shell game of convoluted financial gobbledy-gook that would have made even Bernie Madoff blush.

But to clinch the deal, Mr. Fairbanks called up as irrefutable, financial management expertise NCUA's Asset and Management and Assistance Center (AMAC), which disposes of all the problem assets the Agency aquires.  AMAC handled the liquidation - end of story, all's right with the world.

Except for this little problem...

Winging It... And Ducking Responsibility

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tx) has been "around the block" several times in national politics; and, now as head of the House Financial Services Committee is well-positioned to help reshape the future of the financial services industry. 

Here's what Mr. Hensarling had to say recently at the CUNA GAC:

"How you can take away the fundamental economic liberties of Americans and give unfettered subjective powers to one unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat ... is positively Orwellian."

Pretty strong words ! So here's that pop quiz of the day ! About which of the following individuals was Chairman Hensarling speaking?

A) Richard Cordray

     B) The Faz

Or C).....

The New NCUA Leadership.....

Sheer Madness...

"Things go out over my signature every day at NCUA that I don't know anything about." 
(Oh really !)

"Just like at your credit union."  

(You got that wrong !) 

NCUA looking toward the future, toward a new level of transparency and accountability, toward the...

Leading Indicator....

Q:  How do you know when the world is truly, truly in a mess?

A: When we hit the fiscal cliff?  No.

A:  When we get sequestered?  No.

A:  When the NCUA gets involved?  No.

You know the world is really in a mess when ....

Seeing The Light...

Playing live at Alice's Restaurant....??

"You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in."

- Arlo Guthrie

NCUA's Manti Te'o Moment...

According to the Credit Union Journal (2/28/2013) :

Crash Tested !!

"NCUA said MEMBERS Trust Co.'s Charitable Lead Trust Program being conducted in partnership with the National CU Foundation is a permissible investment for federal credit unions as long as individual investments made by the Trust were permissible investments under NCUA's rules and regulations."

NCUA is obviously...