Category: Co-ops in Capitalism

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What Cooperative Owners Should Know When Their CEO Buys a Bank

Credit unions purchases of for-profit banks have become a  more frequent and accepted coop strategy.  The most recent total count is 77 purchases since 2010 with 22 announced in 2024.

Buying banks  requires the credit union to pay cash versus the option of issuing new shares or partial cash and share offers when banks purchase each another.

This cash outlay means the members’ collective equity is being used to pay bank owners for their shares, often at premiums  of 1.5 to 2.0 times the bank’s net worth.  The gain or increase is booked as “good will” a non-earning asset that must be evaluated for future write downs.

In  all these situations the members have no say. They are informed  after the deal is signed subject only to “regulatory approval.”  Information as to how and why this outlay of the credit union’s capital will benefit the members is rarely presented.

Moreover, most of these transactions are  serendipitous bought to the credit union by brokers hoping to facilitate a sale for a fee.  There is often no connection or knowledge of the bank.  Sometimes it is far removed from the coop’s existing market.  In one case in Arizona, the credit union  converted to a state charter to acquire a bank outside its FCU’s field of membership.

What Should Member-Owners Know?

What should the credit union owners be told about this use of their cash?  The most important question  is how this transaction will benefit the members.

When purchases are completed within the banking industry the standard disclosures are straight forward-what will be the impact on earnings, dividends and recovery of the capital outlay.

A Case Study in Financial Disclosure

Yesterday the $1.9 billion QNBC Bancorp (QNBC) (Quakertwon, PA)announced the purchase of the $477 million Victory Bancorp in Limerick PA.  As both are publicly traded companies, there is much market and call report information about both firms.

The press release led with the total purchase price of $41 million, based on the closing price of QNB shares in this all share transaction.

While there were other general details of the benefits of the sale such as similar culture, business models and greater combined resources, the crux of the announcement was the financial justification for the transaction for both banks’ shareholders.

In the case of the seller, Victory, the stock price (VTYB) has fluctuated between $10-$11 per share even though it reported a net book value of over $15 at the June 30, 2025 call report.  Last night the stock closed at $18.20 per share.

The $41 million total price is 132% of the banks shareholder net equity of $31 million.  The bank’s YTD performance though the second quarter was an ROE of 9.07% and ROA of .59%.  Both OK numbers, but not great.  But what stands out is that Victory reported zero delinquencies and charge offs in the first six months of 2025.

It is clear why Victory shareholders might be interested in this instant gain in the value of their shares.  But what will the purchasing bank owners gain.  This was discussed at length with specific goals in the announcement under the heading, Financial Benefits of the Merger.  Following are from the proforma financial projections how this transaction will impact QNBC’s owners:

The transaction is projected to deliver approximately 16% EPS accretion to QNB’s 2026 estimated EPS and approximately 19% EPS accretion to QNB’s 2027 estimated EPS. . . The expected tangible book value earn-back period is approximately 3.3 years. . .

On a pro-forma basis for the year 2027, the combined business is expected to deliver top-tier operating and profitability metrics upon fully phased-in integration plans, including:

  • Return on Average Assets of approximately 0.80%
  • Return on Average Tangible Common Equity of approximately 13%.

The pro-forma combined company financial metrics are based on estimated combined company cost synergies, anticipated purchase accounting adjustments, and the expected merger closing time horizon.

Specific financial outcomes based on proforma estimates.  This is what shareholders  expect to see when their shares are diluted with this purchase using newly issued shares.  This is what regulators will use to evaluate their supervision and approval.

The announcement also contains the traditional statements about future hopes:

Beyond just this transaction, this partnership represents an exciting opportunity to build one of the most dynamic and growth-oriented community bank franchises in all of Pennsylvania.”

But the bottom line on this event is the financial benefits to the owners of both financial fimrs.

The Need for Financial  Disclosures

This is an example of the financial disclosures and goals credit union CEO’s should be providing their owners when announcing bank buyouts.  It is standard industry practice and obliquitory for regulatory review.

When credit union’s buy banks the bank shareholders are given full financial details as to why this is a good deal for them.  The NCUA and FDIC require full financial proformas to analyze for safety and soundness issues.

The only owners left in the dark at the credit union members whose funds are being used to pay a premium to the bank’s owners.  It’s past time for credit union owners to have this full information.  It is essential to  understand whether the transaction makes financial sense  and to hold their leaders accountable for the proforma outcomes.  Right now everyone else has the details except the owners footing the bill.

The CEO and Board’s Fiduciary Responsibility

If credit unions want to compete to buy banks, then they should be held to the same financial disclosures to their member-owners as the banking industry requires of their institutions.  Otherwise we risk creating a dark market where the facts are unknown and  accountability for investing member funds is lacking.

The bottom line is that it is the CEO’s fiduciary responsibility to the credit union’s owners to be fully transparent when using their capital to buy a bank.  It is the Board’s duty to ensure this disclosure takes place.

 

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Serving Multiple Masters

Jim Blaine’s blog SECU-Just Asking!  has continued almost daily for over four years.

His blogs have focused on SECU’s changes of policy, norms and practices which he and Mike Lord, his successor, developed over four decades.

These changes of direction included potential mergers, ending the partnership with Local Government FCU, considering business lending and expansion of the FOM.  But his early and most strident criticism was the implementation of risk based pricing on consumer loans.  The prior practice was to charge each member the same interest rate on loans of similar maturity independent of the members’ credit score.

Jim then exercised the owner’s option to recruit members who were open to his point of view to run for open board seats at the annual meeting.  The first effort was successful in that all three member-nominated candidates won over the board’s chosen.

But since that first success the board has enacted bylaw and other procedures to make it increasingly difficult for independent candidates to run–and then eliminating any “live” member participation at the owners’ annual meeting.

Jim’s SECU blog is sometimes caustic and personal.  But most often he tries to present his policy concerns with facts, logic, SECU’s experience, and occasionally referencing other credit unions.

Creating a Unicorn

He believed that long term success depended on creating unique value through  innovation rather than following conventional wisdom or practice.

He would reference the unicorn as a standard for differentiation–mythical or real.

The Basic Question Animating His Commentary

Recently Jim began a series of blogs on SECU’s use of the the 30-year mortgage as the industry standard for home lending.  A practice that includes periodic sales of those loans in the secondary market to minimize ALM risk.

This analysis began on September 18 with a blog titled: SECU “Reinventing The Wheel” With 1930’s “New/New” Mortgage Model.

Subsequent posts have demonstrated the advantage of ARMS for members in many circumstances, but not all.  You can read his follow on daily analysis at the site.

What’s At Stake?

I chose this issue to illustrate what I see as Jim’s basic concern with the many changes suggested and introduced by his successors over the past four years.  His critique is more fundamental than a difference of business judgment.

At the core is a profound  philosophical difference in what it means to be a cooperative.

Jim’s believes the credit union  is owned and exists strictly to serve the best interests of the members.  The most important corollary is the coop’s loyalties cannot be divided between other stakeholders and their business values.  Especially when choosing operational partners, interacting with regulators or even working with other credit unions.

Reading his critique of the industry standard of the 30 year mortgage, this concern comes through loud and clear.  Yes, many persons believe and have been schooled to think that this is the optimum choice when it may not or would not be the best option.

For this is a product designed, facilitated and controlled by two quasi-governmental entities  Fannie and Freddie.  They determine what is best for consumers and their financial duopoly, not for the  consumer requesting the loan.

When one looks at his other critiques, they often ask a basic question, Why is this action, change, or initiative in the members’ best interest?

What is occuring at SECU and many other credit unions is that industry stature and growth  are the primary drivers of change.   We see this reflected in mergers of long-serving, healthy independent credit unions, the buying of banks and outside businesses.  Most critically this disdain for members well being is demonstrated in the  elimination of any owner role in the election or other involvment at their annual meeting.

The coop model has been increasingly hijacked by leaders who inherited generations of member created financial wealth that they presume is now theirs to use as they alone determine.

One of the oldest lessons from all faith traditions is that a person cannot worship both God and mammon.  A number of today’s credit unions have given up on honoring members’ interest as the highest good.  Instead their goal is to become an industry asset leader, to paraphrase a recent CEO’s defense of mergers.

Or, as explained by the $9.0 billion Community America’s CEO Lisa Gitner (Kansas) in proposing a merger with the $3.5 billion Unify Financial Credit Union in Allen Texas:  “Now, we have an opportunity to expand our reach and create more access to CommunityAmerica for you, your families, and even more people across the country. I’ve always led CommunityAmerica with goals that are defined by how many people we can help–not by how much revenue we can generate. That is the driving force behind a transformative milestone in our credit union’s history–and the reason I am writing to you.”

Or to put the issue more bluntly, what consumer or member is going to choose this credit union because it will now “have a presence in 18 states and 22 markets, with branches in Arkansas, California, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas?”

 

 

 

 

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Two Forms of Competition Always Present

Two classic strategies for creating competitive advantage are a superior employee centered service culture. The second is to embrace  innovation.

Following are two updates in both areas.

Minimum Wage in Banking Now Hits $25 per Hour

Bank of America will increase its minimum wage to $25 an hour next month, the final step in a long-term goal the company set several years ago. The move bumps pay up from $24, a level put in place last October, the company said Tuesday.

It translates to a full-time annualized salary of more than $50,000 and applies to all full-time and part-time hourly positions in the US. The change continues a series of hikes lifting the firm’s base pay from $15 in 2017.  Source:  Marketplace and (link)

Digital Assets and Innovation

I am a novice in understanding the world of digital assets from Bitcoin to all the stable coin options now being evaluated and offered by financial firms.

Whether used as a store of value or investment, payments between parties or for operating outside the regulated financial services sector, I have not been able to identify a compelling value proposition.

The hype and people rushing to get into this new form for financial service have only accelerated since the Genius Act passed by Congress last month.

Here is a summary of some activity and loopholes by analyst Aaron Klien from Brookings in the article: Interest by any other name should be regulated as sweetly (September 10, 2025)

Cryptocurrency is an asset masquerading as a payment instrument. Congress did not see through this illusion and created a dangerous loophole in the newly passed stablecoin law, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or “GENIUS Act”.  

The law is premised around a simple trade-off: Stablecoins are exempt from bank-like regulation and in exchange are prohibited offering interest on their coins. The law’s ink is not dry and crypto firms have already found a loophole, calling interest “rewards.” If we don’t close this loophole, it could cause massive problems resulting in losses by retail crypto holders, a bailout of big crypto, or a financial crisis.

Bitcoin started with dreams of being a global currency but has become an asset and, for many, a profitable investment (so far). One reason bitcoin works so poorly for payments is its swings in value. Enter stablecoins, usually pegged to the dollar, eliminating this problem. Yet, stablecoins are primarily used for buying and selling other crypto, not for ordinary transactions. While about one in seven Americans report owning crypto, only one in 50 Americans used any form of crypto, including stablecoins, to buy anything other than crypto in 2022.

So, if stablecoins aren’t used for payments, why do people own them?  For many, it’s the same reason they keep money in banks: earning interest. The new law prohibits interest, but what if someone called interest a different name? Would it pay as well?

Coinbase, the largest American crypto exchange, proudly markets 4.1% “rewards” for holding USDC, the largest American issued stablecoin. Crypto.com offers variable rewards based on market conditions, while highlighting its latest partnership with Trump Media Group on their crypto. Its competitor Kraken offers even higher: 5.5% rewards. Notice Kraken marketing an annual percent yield (APY) notation to look like interest. That’s what this is.

Technically, the new law only prevents stablecoin issuers like Circle, which issues USDC, from offering interest. Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Kraken do not issue these coins, they just hold their customers’ coins. Imagine if E-trade or Merrill Lynch offered customers money for letting them “hold” their stocks, and you’ll see the parallel.

The economics of this loophole are problematic. Crypto exchanges generate profit to pay “rewards” to people who deposit crypto through a combination of payments from the stablecoin holders and potentially using depositors’ funds to make their own investments. The larger the rewards customers are being paid, the riskier the investments generating that money. Banks do this with your deposits, but with tight limitations, constant oversight, and federal deposit insurance that fully covers 99% of depositors. Crypto exchanges have none of these guardrails, as FTX demonstrated when it took customer assets to speculate and collapsed. . .

Credit Unions Invest in Crypto

Klein’s analysis continues for another ten paragraphs.  What makes his concerns relevant for credit unions, is that there are numerous crypto related firms and credit unions now investing in stable coin services,  The primary goal is giving members access to the purchase and holding of digital assets.

Yesterday CU DAILY reported “Stablecore, a platform that enables community and regional banks and credit unions to offer stablecoins, tokenized deposits and digital asset products, said it has raised $20 million in funding, including from a credit union-backed fund.”  (link)

Stablecore’s purpose is to  serve as a “digital asset core,” unifying the critical components of digital asset offerings into a single platform.  The credit union  CUSO making the investment was Curql.

Both these announcements may challenge credit unions who are uncertain about their core values and competitive advantage.  So before you reach out to match competitors thrusts, remember success comes not from playing the game you find, but from defining the game you want to play.

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Do Cooperatives Change Market Practices?

An historical note to start:  Today is Constitution Day in the United States, because it was on this day in 1787, at the old State House in Philadelphia, that the final draft of the Constitution was signed.

From Jared Brock on capitalism’s financial incentives:

Turning anything — money, houses, scotch — into investment products skyrockets the price of things.

Financialization… the process of turning anything into an investment… skyrockets prices.

Think Taylor Swift concert tickets, Beanie Babies, baseball cards, cryptocurrency, etc.

Turning an item into an investment increases its price.

We’re currently witnessing this with the financialization of classic cars, high-end wine and scotch, and fractional investment in paintings.

A rare piece of canvas covered in colored paint is only “worth” $100 million if the investor knows he can rent that painting to a museum and re-sell it for $110 million in the future.

Because it’s more profitable to get rich by monopolizing stuff and lending it for a profit instead of actually working to create new stuff to sell, the rich are actually incentivized to bid up prices instead of creating new useable goods and services for others. Shareholders are actively trying to destroy our wellbeing for profit.

From a credit union observer:

“Cooperatives are the future of our ecosystem. It is how we take care of each other, how we take care of our community, and it’s how we can create generational wealth for all of us moving forward without being a part of this really extractive system.”

The question:  Do credit unions practice both these economic goals for example in mergers and bank purchases? Is being a part time coop good enough?

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Credit Union Members on Housing’s Margins

Who can credit unions help the most in this time of economic transition?  What one economist calls a “bifurcated” consumer economy.

If credit unions fail to serve members facing the difficulties described below, who will?

Housing At the Margins

From a Marketplace (link) report last week:

, , ,real estate data firm ATTOM reported that foreclosure activity — which includes default notices, auctions, and bank repossessions — was up 18% in August compared to a year ago. In fact, foreclosure activity on properties across the U.S. has been rising for the past six months.

It’s not up to pre-pandemic levels, but it does signal more trouble in the economy.

Home ownership is the single most important step to financial well being for the majority of Americans.  Does your credit union have a program to help members who are having difficulty meeting their mortgage payments?   What options do you offer?

Evictions

A related but different challenge are members facing eviction from rental properties when coping with job loss or other economic crisis.

A film from March 2025 talks about the many factors contributing to evictions.   There are two trailers one for the longer movie, Evicting the American Dream (link).

The second three minute trailer focuses on evictions and the economic forces driving this process.  (link)  Most impotantly this short excerpt shows the impact on the consumer’s credit report as well as all those listed on the eviction notice, often all the family including children.

Credit unions were formed to provide an option for those on the margins of the economy supported by the participation from  the whole community including those who are doing well.

When was the last time your credit union loaned to a member who had an eviction notice on their credit report?   How do you identify and reach out to those whose paychecks are not enough, or maybe lost?

Should we just serve those doing well who easily fall within our rule bounded services  or worry about  proverbial “lost sheep?”

 

 

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Words to Start Your Day

From a CEO’s monthly staff update. This story is about a senior consumer loan specialist’s impact in just one month with member comments.  People make the difference.

“Chad received twelve 5-Star reviews from members in just one week. One new member shared: “Chad was very patient, answered all my questions, and got our loan processed in under two weeks!” Another noted Chad’s quick responses and expertise: “He went above and beyond to help me understand my options. Chad should teach classes on customer service excellence.”

“When helping one member with a colorful credit history, he evaluated her relationship with the credit union, coached her on how to improve her credit and found a way to meet her loan needs. The member called Chad back with friends on the line so they could all ask him questions about credit rebuilding strategies.”

Members  Own Words

I’ve banked with you guys for 10+ years. I feel like you’re fair and you’ve always been willing to help me when I need it. Example I had like 4 overdraft fees happen at one time and when I called, the agent was knowledgeable and explained everything and waived some of the fees I had put the wrong card. You guys were nice enough to understand the mixup and help me. Other banks I’ve had are just like “tough-deal with it,”  you’ll keep getting fees until paid. When I got married, I refused to give up my account with you guys.

I have been with the Credit Union for over 20 years, and they always are willing to help and give their customers the best service and rates. I cannot say this for many credit unions in the area. You  gave me a loan to pay off my debt and gave me a better interest rate than any other credit union. I have gotten multiple loans through you and they always make it simple and keep you informed. Just recently Chad helped me get a home equity loan. Thanks, for all you do.

Great customer service. Answered all questions, made the whole process seamless and done within 24 hours. I enjoyed the service so much. I just refinanced my second vehicle with you.

There’s not enough space to share my gratitude to Ms. Jessica who showed genuine care for a confused aged person.

 

 

 

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Disrupting Credit Unions to Again Become a Movement

(Following are excerpts from exchanges between several CEO’s and a person, quoted below, interested in NCUA board openings)

Yesterday I was reminded about the fever of the small business entrepreneur to state their case in the wrong way that is,  the market capitalization (valuation)  of their firm.  

Their need is to be seen as an initiative or startup with the vision of selling the firm.  The goal of inflating the value not for the motivation of living the journey forward, but for being accepted by an audience handicapping their firm’s success and relevance to attract outside observers.

This is not a good look for cooperatives. Their “worth” was never meant as one ready to be traded, abandoned, or evaluated for observers who have no role building the firm.

The Market’s View

Once our industry started to be valued through the eyes of outsiders as a financial marketplace commodity, we were on the path to attracting all the trappings (inside and out) of those who think like commodity brokers.  These market driven criteria have a hard time with the ideals of community ownership (virtual) where acting and living the purpose is far different from cashing in.  

We sold out the magic of financial cooperatives not for the sake of being understood for our contribution and confidence in people acting together.  Rather the goal became putting a number on who we are.  Cash in, pay me, liquidation values, what was the other guy worth?  We strived to be evaluated and on par with ideals that are not the drivers of our member-owners’ success.

This transformation in outcomes is overseen by an out of touch NCUA and professional agents using criteria and motivation that will distort cooperative advantage for decades to come.

We need to hone the collective lens through which we set our vision for a new generation of leaders and oversight which will inspire cooperative entrepreneurs and the vesting and enthusiasm of American citizen owners.  

The Next Steps

  1. Call for the end of the NCUA – start a movement to highlight the fact that CU’s are not a government burden but an independent system wishing for autonomy.

1.a Separate the deposit insurance fund from government regulation and supervisory oversight.

  1. Take the newly separated cooperative insurance fund administration and refocus it on credit union success and nurturing innovation and leadership.

2 a.  Support a public initiative to prioritize league/trade organizational formats to return to advocacy and away from prostituting for commissions!

  1. Start a movement for cooperative entrepreneurial skills and measures that support CU differentials – in accounting, human resource., asset management, and network infrastructure and execution.  Surge collaborative business design initiatives.

Start something worth calling a MOVEMENT again.

On Mergers

  1. Reclassify merger into two transparent market types.

– rescues (with specific criteria)

– mergers for operational gain

  1. Announce a moratorium on mergers coming in 6 months.
  2. Publish an immediate effort for new rules in merger processes and due diligence by members and boards.  Announce new guidelines for explicit tactics around cooperative entrepreneurial ship, consumer-owner engagement goals, and programs for professional compensation over asset enrichment and gains.
  3. Moratorium in place for 12 months.  
  4. After 12 months – implement the new processes.

Your thoughts?  Ideas that certainly fit the times, not the status quo.

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Should My First Military Home be on the National Historic Register?

Anerica has a housing shortage.  Many different solutions are being offered.  During my initial assignment to the Navy Supply School in Athens, GA, the only available housing on arrival was a trailer home.

My wife who was seven months pregnant and I lived there for several months until base housing became available.  Little did we know that we occupied, albeit briefly, an example of America’s housing creativity from WWII as explained in An Unexpected Idea for Preserving America’s Mobile Homes. 

This ability of trailers to quickly mobilize wherever and whenever needed was again on display following the passage of the GI Bill. Look at aerial photos of postwar college campuses; chances are you’ll see rows and rows of trailers nearby, providing on-demand housing to new students and their families.

Today there are over 21 million manufactured housing homes.  Some are temporary, but most are permanent residences.

Home to 21 Million Americans

Recently the digital journal Next City posted a long article about how manufactured housing/mobile homes could become an integral part of solving America’s housing shortage.  Here are the opening paragraphs:

Punctuating the country is an unknown world of mobile home parks that are often seen but rarely recognized. These communities are everywhere: scattered along highways, in urban crannies in California, Florida, and the Sunbelt, on exurban territory from the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest, next to factories, farmland, mines and military bases. Blink and you’ll miss them. The National Register of Historic Places certainly has.

There is not a single mobile home or mobile home park in the National Register — a glaring omission that, if addressed, challenges the preservation field to join the fight for affordable housing.

Over the last hundred years, mobile homes have housed millions as and where needed. Today, they are home to 21 million people, or about one in every 16 Americans. They are legitimate and permanent parts of the American landscape. Even so, city officials, historians and preservation professionals have largely disregarded mobile homes, and their residents, as aberrations.

A Role for Credit Unions?

The article provides the history of the transitiion from “trailer” to mobile homes to manufactured housing and notes:

The truth is, mobile homes are not very different from the average suburban home. The vast majority do not move once they are sited, nor do their residents. Some 71% of mobile home residents own their homes, higher than the national homeownership rate for all forms of housing. The biggest difference is their affordability: On average, a new site-built home costs four times as much as a new “manufactured” home.

These manufactured home estates have become an attractive investment for private equity:

In recent years, some of the largest private equity firms, including Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, and The Carlyle Group, are making big “recession-proof” bets on mobile home parks. Between 2014 to 2022, investors purchased 800,000 lots, representing nearly 20% of all mobile homes — double the rate of private equity ownership of apartment units.

Some credit unions have been active in leding to this sector for years.  Credit Human in San Antonio developed a national speciality with manufactured housing sellers for financing these purchases.  They report holding 22,329 loans totaling $1.459 billlion at yearend 2024. These loans however, are different from the standard site-built, stand alone residence..

What is unique to mobile homes is that they are still classified as “chattel,” or moveable personal property — such as a car — rather than real estate. This means that not only do mobile homes decrease in value over time, but that residents, even those who own their home outright, must still pay rent on the land underneath.

And the private equity trend has brought new problems besides the traditional challenges of zoning and site ownership:

By increasing both lending and rental rates, investment firms are squeezing the vulnerable at every turn. As private equity moves in, costs and delayed repairs pile up. Parks purchased by investors have seen rents and fees balloon. Evictions have increased, as has wholesale destruction to make room for redevelopment. . .

One solution the article referenced is cooperative ownership.  However, the Next City article proposes putting long term mobile home locations on the National Register of Historical Places.  The idea in brief:

To potentially be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, properties must meet certain criteria, including historic significance to a time at least 50 years in the past. Given their contributions to mid-century American history, the argument for the significance of older mobile home parks is easy to make.

But the designation is not easy to achieve.  In the meantime credit unions can help sustain this housing option by financing and supporting the traditional buying and selling process that underwrites all home ownership.

The immediate opportunity would be to visit the mobile home sites in your community, talk with local dealers (if any) and become familiar with the financial needs of the residents.   It is a national need with local markets-a perfect fit for credit union solutions.

I’d be interested in examples from credit unions that have experience serving these members and their communities.

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The Power of Tradition: The Lesson of Longevity

One of the immediate consequences of mergers of sound credit unions is the loss of their legacy and traditions created by generations of member service.

Often the continuing credit union tries to ameliorate  this wasting  by temporarily retaining the old name while consolidating operations and leadership under outside direction.  And shortly thereafter comes the new brand.

Terms such as “goodwill” acknowledge the real value that the relationships and roles of long-serving firms bring their communities in addition to  their economic contributions.

Family vs Public Business Success

A July 11, 2025 article in Bloomberg Opinion by Adrian Wooldridge suggests that the recognition and respect for a firm’s history may be a critical factors in the long term survival of family business versus that of most public companies.

Below are a few excerpts from his article Europe’s Best Family Firms Have a Secret Weapon Money Can’t Buy.  

Tradition can’t be bought. It’s fashionable in business circles to pass over Europe with a sigh. But the best European family companies have survived everything history can throw at them, and the majority of businesses that have survived for 200-plus years are European,

Part of the answer lies in longevity: The best European family companies have survived plagues, famines, world wars, recessions, revolutions — and continue to thrive. The Henokiens Association, an international club of 57 family businesses that have survived for at least 200 years, includes only ten non-European members, all Japanese. . .

The typical life expectancy of any company, family or non-family, is only a couple of decades, and is falling. What explains the longevity of the best European family businesses? . . .

Tradition. Tradition is a unique resource which newer firms cannot match regardless of how much money they have: Thousands of companies produce wine, for example, but only the Frescobaldis in Tuscany can boast that their ancestor, Dino, rescued the first seven Cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy from destruction.

Tradition provides impossible to quantify corporate benefits: pride in collective achievements; the self-confidence to make difficult decisions; and, perhaps most important of all, a sense of perspective–family companies are much better than public companies at resisting the pressure of quarterly results for long-term results.

For their part, big public companies often suffer from a “crisis of banality”: in a world that is hungry for meaning, all too many of them adopt identical virtue-signaling language or forgettable names or logos. . .

They should study the art of storytelling practiced by the likes of Berry Bros. & Rudd founded in 1698 selling coffee.  Even as some American tourists like to lament Europe’s supposed decline into a collection of monuments without any economic prospects, some of those monuments contain clever and innovative companies that will continue to thrive even after the giants of Silicon Valley have gone the way of Shelley’s Ozymandias.

The poem’s final stanza:

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
My question: Is the idea that credit unions are like family more powerful than we might at first realize?
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Not Your Typical Strategic Planning Question

Lots of talk about strategy is happening now.  For 2026 and beyond.

This public dialogue asks a different question from those posed in traditional planning retreats.

How would you answer?  It could make a difference in your firm’s priorities.

 

Question from a CEO:  Have we become so changed that our shared purpose and collective action is no longer a movement, but instead an industry like so many other market driven and profit making organizations? Even our credit union leaders and advocates refer to us as an industry in the daily rags that I read each morning. What are we now? Are we no longer a movement, whose mission is socially driven?

Response: Ancin Cooley, Principal, Synergy Credit Union Consulting,Inc

To answer your heartfelt question directly:

We are no longer a movement.

What we now have is something far more compromised. What remains today is a quasi-cooperative system—held together by legacy language (”We stand for hashtag#mainstreet values”), but driven mainly by pure capitalists in cooperative costumes.

If you pay close attention, you’ll notice something strange: No one publicly defends these credit union mergers.

Not on video. Not on LinkedIn. Not at conferences.

Why? Because there’s an inherent contradiction between what’s happening and what a cooperative is.

But here’s the truth: this trajectory could shift swiftly if just 20 to 30 credit union CEOs joined their league boards and made their positions known.

Yes, it might cost some relationships. But if someone can’t respect your position, you were never friends in the first place. Your friendship was predicated on compliance. So what if you don’t get invited to DC to take your fourth picture with your local congressman?

If you’re doing right by your members, community, and credit union, those congresspeople will come to your office, not the other way around.

Impact draws attention. Service builds power.