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Transfers of Engagements:  A ‘Learning’ Model – CUDA & CU CEO Forum

By News

This paper is the product of a joint initiative between the Credit Union Development Association (CUDA) and the Credit Union CEO Forum. The paper offers unique insight to the lessons that emerge during the transfer of engagements process from the perspective of three stakeholder groups, namely the ‘Board of Directors & CEO’, ‘Regulator’ and ‘Members’. These insights are gathered from published research, the authors’ experiences and their conversations with CEOs who have participated in multiple transfers of engagements.

Method

Twenty-six transfer of engagements lessons are documented. A majority of these lessons are acquired by the ‘Board of Directors and the CEO’, next by the ‘Regulator’ and last by ‘Members’. This is reflective of the effort contributed by the respective parties and the proportionality of responsibility they have in the transfer of engagements process.

A ‘learning model’ is constructed to guide the creation of ‘strategic’ transfers of engagements. The imperative that emerges is that the Board of Directors and CEO (of transferee Credit Unions) have a vision and purpose of what they seek to achieve from a transfer of engagements for their members. Critical to this is an understanding of what members really value.

Recommendations

  • A more streamlined and less costly transfer process should be put in place by the Regulator, particularly where the transferor is small in asset size and the transferee has a breadth of transfer experience.
  • The Regulator should introduce a risk categorisation of Credit Unions, similar to the CAMEL grading mechanism, this would create a greater understanding of each Credit Union’s strengths and weaknesses at the outset of transfer of engagements discussions.
  • Member Resolution for the transfer of engagements should occur prior to Credit Unions embarking on the lengthy and costly due diligence, business planning and integration planning phases of the transfer process.
  • A significant exposure for transferee Credit Unions exist during the period from completion of the due diligence to the completion of the legal and regulatory process. As a solution, the authors suggest the implementation of a process whereby the transferee Credit Union has approval input in situations where such exposures could potentially occur, for example via a Heads of Agreement mechanism.
  • The Regulator should commence a review of loan category limits. Future transfers are likely to create Credit Unions of significant scale whose business model could be hampered by existing lending limit.

The Paper can be downloaded here.

CUDA’s Standing Orders Podcast series is specially designed to inform and support member credit unions.   In this episode, Peter is joined by Donal McKillop, Professor of Financial Services at Queen’s University Belfast, and Chair of the Credit Union CEO Forum, and Kevin Johnson, CEO of CUDA.

They talk about the experience of mergers across the sector and the structural options going forward. Donal and Kevin, with the assistance of others in the sector, have researched and analysed the successes and learnings of mergers over the last five years and have recently produced a paper on the subject titled, ‘Transfers of Engagements: A ‘Learning’ Model’.

Standing Orders Podcast can be streamed directly from CUDA’s website at the link here or is available on all the usual podcast channels including Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts, where you can subscribe to get notified when new episodes become available.