✅ Mentioned that a couple of us went by this week to meet with Ms. Kristina Ray, the newly appointed Administrator of North Carolina credit unions, and Ms. Rana Badwan, from the Attorney General's Office. Ms. Ray is an experienced, poised regulator; Ms. Badwan is a careful, intelligent attorney. Both are homegrown (Dunn and Raleigh) and both are thoughtful listeners. That makes for a great audience!
✅ Thought it would be good to share with you the follow up letter from the meeting. You'll note there are three serious concerns. The first concern over financial statements was easily resolved yesterday by Rex Spivey, CFO at SECU. [link 7/26/2023 post] The next two are going to be more difficult to correct. Our next topic is that "this Board" has directly violated the SECU Bylaws with it's new Election Procedures. The mistake presents a major governance dilemma for the members of SECU, since the 2023 election process is already underway. But we'll talk more about this latest Board snafu in a bit, Here's the letter ... https://secuvote.ey.com/
✅ Ms. Kristina Ray, Administrator of North Carolina Credit Unions
July 25, 2023 (5:26 PM)
Dear Ms. Ray,
We would like
to thank you for the time and courtesy you and Ms. Badwan gave to us
today to discuss several issues which have arisen with SECU. The three
issues were 1) the monthly publication of financial statements, 2) the
serious non-conformity of the new Election Procedures with the SECU
bylaws, and 3) the inconsistency with North Carolina laws of the SECU
bylaw changes recently approved by your predecessor.
These
issues if not addressed immediately by the Credit Union Division will
risk accentuating a growing concern and mistrust among SECU members over
the leadership of SECU by the existing Board and management. A crisis
of confidence in the Credit Union poses a substantial safety and
soundness issue, which should be avoided at all cost. We do not need an
unwarranted Silicon Valley Bank-type event in North Carolina.
You
asked us to file a complaint which we will not do. These issues are not
personal complaints by a member vs a credit union. All three issues are
regulatory matters which require your intervention. It is not the duty
of the membership to assure that SECU abides by N.C. State Statutes,
Credit Union Division rules and regulations, and the CU Division
approved SECU bylaws. That is your duty.
We
suggested several remedies and actions which could help ameliorate, in
the short term, all three issues quietly and we would be open to further
discussions with you to resolve these issues permanently and hopefully
amicably.
As we discussed, the Credit
Union Division has the ability to address and resolve these issues
"informally" with SECU, which hopefully you will pursue. A formal
complaint and investigation will serve little public purpose and you may
well trigger that crisis of confidence which harms all members and all
of North Carolina.
Look forward to hearing from
you this week on how you intend to address these critical matters. As
with a house on fire, the consequences are certain if you do not act
quickly.
Thank you again for your responsiveness. Enjoyed meeting you both.
Jim Blaine
One would think that repeatedly, publicly shaming North Carolina and 2.7 million SECU members would become a concern for individual members of "this Board" at some point, wouldn't you? https://secuvote.ey.com/
