WASHINGTON–A political action committee that has expressed criticism of “…fake credit unions” is urging the banking industry to put its support behind three candidates, according to one new report.
The PAC, Friends of Traditional Banking (FOTB), was first reported on CUCollaborate.com. The banker-backed group bills itself as the “inverse” of a traditional PAC.
“Instead of spreading a little bit of money to a lot of campaigns, we focus a lot of money on a couple of key campaigns,” the organization says on its website. “Can thousands of individuals standing together really change the political environment for traditional banks and the communities they serve? Absolutely.”
The organization says on its site it does not collect contributions, but instead allows donors to contribute directly to the candidates through their own websites.
The group says of its mission, “We are a non-partisan grassroots effort, organized by bankers. We are Main Street, not Wall Street; we are traditional community bankers, not investment bankers.”
‘Not a True Credit Union’
Under the headline, “Credit Unions Will Keep Buying Banks Until Congress Acts,” Friends of Traditional Banking wrote in a 2021 blog posting, “A year and a half ago the good question was asked: Will Congress do anything about credit unions buying banks?” The reference was to a report by American Banker. “After all, as ICBA's Rebeca Romero Rainey pointed out this week, U.S. tax revenue shrinks every time a credit union buys a bank and yet credit unions continue to ramp up their unfair competition with traditional banking by gobbling up community banks.
“Just this past month, for example, VyStar Credit Union announced it was purchasing yet another community bank (their second such purchase in 24 months). And a credit union that can buy a bank is really not a true credit union,” the blog post continued. “Friends of Traditional Banking has long opposed fake credit unions, which are surging well beyond the role of traditional credit unions and harming communities by avoiding taxes. These financial institutions create an uneven playing field for traditional banks and real community credit unions.
“Yet, Congress continues to ignore the cries of our industry and its allies ABA and ICBA.”
Candidates Being Backed
FOTB has thrown its support behind Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in the upcoming mid-term elections, as well as Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) who is seeking to win the Senate seat currently held by the retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), and Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), who is up for reelection.