| Paul (.0)
That is an interesting suggestion. But I think it's a little complex. It
reminds me of the Relationship Banking idea, where you need a spreadsheet to
figure out which fees you may or may not be charged this month. If the formula
for success is hard to understand, then the members have a hard time knowing
where they stand from month to month. And the potential for an unpleasant
surprise is greater. Such a surprise could be a fee that is charged, or when
someone doesn't get interest on their share draft account because their balance
dropped below some arbitrary limit. If DCU is going to spring surprises on the
members, they should be pleasant ones, along the lines of bonus dividends or
interest rebates.
I think the metrics for measuring the performance of the DCU (and its President)
are fairly simple:
Has the number of members increased or decreased?
We've lost 1/4 of our membership since the Mangone loan scandal. I don't
care that Digital has been having layoffs. If DCU was truly serving its
members, they would stay. People only leave if they find a better deal
elsewhere.
Has the percentage of members who use DCU as their primary financial institution
increased or decreased?
I don't know the numbers on this. But I think it should be a goal to get
more people to say "DCU is my primary financial institution" next year than
say that now.
Do all members have equal access to the credit union?
This is not true now. It may not be solved overnight, but DCU has a lot of
work to do in this area.
These, of course, presume that we maintain our strong fiscal position. I'm not
in favor of increasing the capital ratio by reducing the number of deposits. We
should be able to keep the historically high loan quality, while offering good
savings rates and good loan rates (see 915.*).
Elaine
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