In response to a recent filing by the VBA and several member banks, the State Corporation Commission has granted a stay of the Bureau of Financial Institutions’ recent approval for Virginia Credit Union to add the 10,000 members of the Medical Society of Virginia to its field of membership. The next step will be for VBA and the banks to file a full petition appealing the VACU ruling and seek a hearing before the State Corporation Commission, asking the judges to overturn the Bureau’s approval. Our thanks to American National Bank & Trust, Blue Ridge Bank, Chesapeake Bank, Farmers Bank, Windsor, First Bank & Trust Company, First National Bank and The Bank of Charlotte County for joining VBA on the appeal.
Read more in Virginia Business, Credit Union Times and Richmond BizSense about the VBA's objection.
Bruce Whitehurst, VBA president and CEO said, “This is the first time in Virginia a credit union has applied for something like this since it became law 20 years ago,” Whitehurst said. “We obviously are going to object anytime a credit union wants to go even further than the very permissive statutes.”
A recent report found that credit unions are falling short of their mission to serve households of “small means.” In fact, according to the research by respected analyst Karen Shaw Petrou, credit union members are disproportionately from middle- and upper-income households, and credit unions’ lack of “mission compliance” deepens U.S. economic inequality.
See more examples of VBA in the news here.