A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP – Risk Management

We are really excited about our May Power Up annual conference, and you should be too! Why? Well, in addition to the regular lineup of great speakers, networking, and awesomeness, we also have Tim Harrington with TEAM Resources coming to present both a general session and a breakout session. I have mentioned Tim’s blog and materials in several of my previous blog posts. He not only has Montana connections (family in Butte!), but he has a rare gift for explaining financials in layman’s terms.

As directors, you are obligated to take financial literacy training within six months of your election or appointment, but your initial training may not be enough. The basics might make more sense to those with certain backgrounds, but credit union financials are unique. The Federal Reserve is expected to start raising interest rates in 2022 — maybe as much as four times — and you are likely looking at skewed loan-to-share ratios after the drastic changes COVID created. It might also be the first time some of you have seen rising rates. How will it impact your balance sheet? Does it mean your credit union needs to raise rates too?

Tim’s breakout session, Gauges the Board Needs to Watch Edging Out of the Pandemic Recession, will cover the financial ratios to watch closely, how certain changes show up in your financials, and what you need to keep an eye on to keep your credit union on track. The timing of his session is perfect, and I hope to see many of you in Billings with us on May 18!

Still not convinced? We have three webinars that Tim provided on our Director Training Tools page under the Director Financial Literacy topic. Feel free to use them to refresh your knowledge or train new board members on how to read credit union financials. It will give you good questions to ask at his May session!