ARLINGTON, Va.—Despite an improving economy, credit union leaders are skeptical about the future of their business.
NAFCU’s latest Credit Union Sentiment Index (CUSI), an index based on NAFCU member responses to eight questions on growth and earnings outlook, lending conditions and regulatory burden, continued to decline in December following a sharp drop in the previous month. The index is now sitting on the threshold of dropping into the "pessimistic" range, NAFCU said.
“Of note, among the four index components, the biggest drop was in earnings, followed by growth. Credit unions' outlook on regulation over the next 12 months fell to its lowest reading in the history of the survey, while lending was the only index component to improve,” NAFCU stated.
About Data Portability
Separately, the January edition of NAFCU's Economic & CU Monitor report also examined credit unions' opinions on consumer data portability in relation to the CFPB's recent advance notice of proposed rulemaking gathering input on how it should implement section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Survey respondents indicated many credit unions are already providing some degree of enhanced data portability, with nearly half stating they have provided their members with some mechanism to download electronic records. Few respondents indicating having any data sharing agreements with third parties, and those that did said their arrangements were limited in scope.
In addition, credit unions expressed concerns related to data security due to the scope of data access rights considered in section 1033.