Monday marked the first full day of the Governmental Affairs Conference from America’s Credit Unions — the industry’ largest annual meeting — and this year’s GAC is notable in part for being the event’s 50th anniversary. Credit unions look a lot different today than they did even 15 years ago, let alone 50, and the first day’s sessions offered a mix of familiar themes and new developments.
Takeaway No. 1: Embrace The Chaos
Regardless of political leanings, “DC now stands for ‘Disruption and Chaos,’” quipped Jim Nussle, president and CEO of America’s Credit Unions. Nussle has rare insight into these discussions — although he has led the industry’s largest trade group for a little more than a decade, prior to that he was a member of Congress and later a member of President George W. Bush’s cabinet, leading the Office of Management and Budget.
“The president and majorities in Congress are doing exactly what they promised they’d do, and they’re moving forward with their agenda,” he said from the main stage Monday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, noting that 50% of Congress is new since the last round of tax cuts in 2017. “We as credit unions have to play the cards we’ve been dealt; that’s just a fact. We can’t wish it away; we can’t be frustrated. Yes, there is chaos, but we have to embrace that chaos to some extent.”
That makes credit union advocacy more important than ever.
“We need to recognize that if we’re not at the table telling our story, we may definitely be on the menu,” he said.
How Will Disruption And Chaos Impact Credit Unions? A substantial portion of the industry is built around serving federal government employees. With federal jobs potentially in jeopardy, credit unions are preparing diverse responses. Read more today.
Takeaway No. 2: Taxation Threat Is More Real Than Ever
Threats to the tax exemption are always a key topic at GAC, but the fight to preserve the industry’s tax status was front and center this year.
“This time is different,” said Carrie Hunt, chief advocacy officer of the trade group. “It feels different because we have a different political makeup in Congress and because Congress is tackling taxes through the [budget] reconciliation process. The problem with this is we’ll have no opportunity to really debate or influence a final bill in Congress. This is why we’re here at GAC — in the next months we’ll be throwing the kitchen sink at the problem so that we end up in a good position on the other end.”
To that end, America’s Credit Unions and other industry groups are closely focused on the “Don’t Tax My Credit Union” campaign, and Monday’s proceedings included the announcement that TruStage (formerly CUNA Mutual Group) has committed $250,000 toward those efforts.
Time and again, Nussle, Hunt, and others stressed that the way to protect the industry and the more than 140 million Americans it serves is to tell the credit union story. That includes emphasizing the positive impact credit unions make on their communities while also highlighting the fact that credit unions are moving into communities for-profit banks have abandoned, showcasing the industry’s role as consumer advocate and financial first responder during disasters like hurricanes and wildfires.
“We don’t want anymore regulatory sermons from new nominees who come in here and try to tell us about consumer protections,” Nussle said. “We were consumer protection before it was cool. We’re about action, not just words.”
The goal for the week, he added, should be to put aside any personal partisanship and focus on being “partisan for credit unions.”
Takeaway No. 3: NCUA To Scale Back Staff
The National Credit Union Administration could look and operate much differently by the time GAC 2026 kicks off. During a conversation on the main stage with Nussle, Kyle Hauptman, chair of the NCUA, said the agency will have to slim down by as many as 100 employees from its current roster of approximately 1,200 by this time next year. That’s likely to be accomplished through a combination of attrition and early voluntary retirement, he added.
Hauptman, a Republican, was appointed to the board by President Trump in 2020 and named chair shortly after Trump was sworn in for a second term. That kind of scaling back mirrors broader efforts to shrink the size of the federal government, although the agency is funded by the credit unions it regulates and not by any congressional directive.
“We’re going to have to do more with less,” Hauptman said from the stage. “My colleagues know we’re going to have fewer employees, so what are we going to do?”
One possibility includes changing the exam cycle and structure to focus more closely on complex credit unions that present a larger risk to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. Credit unions that are adequately capitalized and have sufficient liquidity could see examiners in their shops once every 18 months; for the smallest credit unions, that cadence might even change to every two years, though nothing has been decided yet.
“When you’re down 100 people — 10% of your workforce — you’re going to do some things differently,” Hauptman said.
Hauptman also briefly addressed rumors that financial regulators could be consolidated, emphasizing that although he has “zero authority over this,” he’s not in favor of it. What’s most important, he stressed, is that any agency overseeing credit unions needs to understand why they’re important and what makes them different from other financial services providers.
Just as credit unions are experimenting with artificial intelligence, Hauptman said the regulator is also doing the same. NCUA already uses large language models to spot outliers and trends within call report filings, and the chair indicated many government agencies have taken similar steps. The IRS, for example, uses AI to determine who is subject to audits, he said.
With those efficiencies in mind, NCUA has purchased 80 licenses for Copilot, the new AI tool from Microsoft.
“We’re already at the point where some employees are saying, ‘This would be easier on my personal computer,’” he said. “People can tell when there’s a better way to do something.”
Hauptman’s remarks also included the news that the regulator is changing its policies around data collection for NSF and overdrafts. That information will now be confidential and will no longer be included in public call reports.
Takeaway 4: Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Your Turn
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The first day of GAC also included a keynote address from Carla Harris, a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley and a lifelong credit union member.
Harris’s remarks focused on leadership and how new generations in the workforce have forced a change to traditional leadership strategies. The “my way or the highway” top-down leadership structure of the 1980s doesn’t apply anymore. The employer-employee contract has changed, she said, driven not just by new demographics taking over the workforce but by external events like the COVID-19 pandemic that reshaped on-the-job expectations. Today’s table stakes for leadership are simple: transparency, inclusivity, and feedback.
The response to “jump” is no longer “how high?” she said.
“When I say ‘Jump’ to a millennial, they ask ‘Why?,’” she added.
She also offered what she called “eight pearls of intentional leadership,” including:
- Authenticity: “When you’re in an environment like we are now, you want your people to bring all of their talents to the room so you as a leader have access to all the talent, creativity, and execution skills they can possibly have,” she said. If people can’t bring their authentic selves to work, they’re doing a disservice to themselves and the organization.
- Trust: Why do consumers trust their barber or their favorite restaurant? Because those providers have delivered time and again. Credit unions know how to build trust, but today’s volatile economic environment and shifting job market have put trust at a premium. “People want a source they can trust,” she said. “And that will be the linchpin of your client relationships and a linchpin in keeping your best people.”
- Diversity and Inclusion: Although some industries have moved away from prioritizing diversity, much of the credit union sector continues to embrace DEI. “You must be intentional about [diversity], because it will not just happen,” Harris said. Even more, she added, diversity breeds innovation. More people means a greater range of experiences, a greater range of experiences results in a variety of perspectives, and a variety of perspectives means more ideas — which is where innovation comes from.