ARLINGTON, Va.–NAFCU’s CEO says the group that really needs to “wake up” is the banking industry when it comes to the issue of mergers and acquisitions.
Responding to a statement by the Independent Community Bankers Association that with the number of credit union purchases of banks passing 100, the group is “renewing” its call for “policymakers to examine the loophole contributing to these tax-subsidized acquisitions,” NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger said the bankers need to take a look inside their own industry.
“The reality is that since 2003 banks have merged with other banks nearly 5,000 times,” said Berger. “ICBA needs to ‘wake up’ to the fact that mergers among their members are occurring at a significantly higher rate. While ICBA and their members continue to waste resources trying to eliminate competition for community banks, the reality is that credit unions have been at the forefront of providing essential financial services to consumers during the pandemic and remain focus on helping them through this crisis. Credit unions always put their members first and have continuously shown the positive impacts they have on their communities.”
The ”wake up” reference is to a campaign of the same name the ICBA has been running that targets the credit union tax exemption. More on that can be found at www.icba.org/wakeup.