Five Questions With: Paul Gentile

Paul Gentile is president and CEO of the Credit Union Association of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Paul Gentile is president and CEO of the Credit Union Association of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

More than 50 credit union executives gathered at the Statehouse this month to brush shoulders with some of the state’s top political leaders.
The annual Credit Union Governmental Affairs Day gives financiers a day to network and remind lawmakers why credit unions matter in the Ocean State, according to Paul Gentile, president and CEO of the Credit Union Association of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Gentile talks with Providence Business News about what the state’s credit unions are looking for this legislative session.

PBN: What’s the purpose of Credit Union Governmental Affairs Day and how does it benefit Rhode Island members?
GENTILE:
Rhode Island credit unions are really a part of a small state and a tight-knit community, so every year I go to the Credit Union Governmental Affairs Day it reinforces the great relationship that credit unions have with their legislative community. The lawmakers come and mingle, talk with our credit unions and many have a story or two about a local credit union serving the community. It really puts a spotlight on the great things that credit unions are doing in Rhode Island.
At the end of the day, it’s an opportunity to elevate the profile of credit unions with the lawmakers. But what I really learn each year is that it’s being elevated throughout the year, as many Rhode Island legislators interact with credit unions throughout the year. But one of our challenges is to distinguish ourselves from the national banks that were involved in the mortgage crises during the 2008 recession. That wasn’t our deal, we weren’t really a part of that, and it’s important to distinguish ourselves from other financial providers.
PBN: Are there any particular issues legislatively credit unions will be watching this session?
GENTILE:
One of the issues we always watch float around in the last couple years is the foreclosure process. Especially as the Rhode Island economy continues to struggle a little bit and people are struggling to make their payments. Credit unions have a very small amount of foreclosures, but we do oppose any legislation that will negatively affect our members. We also don’t want any legislation that puts our state charters at a disadvantage with federal charters. We want to make sure the state charters stay up with any federal charter changes.
PBN: So are there any specific pieces of legislation?
GENTILE:
We’re watching them all come in, we’ve given our cursory look, but we haven’t seen anything major right now. But we have our advocacy meeting coming up and we’ll look at bills at that time.
PBN: How about at the federal level?
GENTILE:
We have a lot of activity in the federal regulatory arena. The National Credit Union Association has two major proposals right now. One is the business lending. Credit unions have a cap of 12.25 percent of their total assets. Sens. [Jack] Reed and [Sheldon] Whitehouse have advocated to increase that cap. Regulators are looking at that right now, as there will be some opportunity in there to allow credit unions to do more business lending and make it more streamlined than it is right now. That’s something we’re following closely. As always we’re worried about overdraft fees. Overdraft gets a bad name out there, but members rely on it so they don’t bounce their mortgage check and it’s paid until your next paycheck. It’s a lifeline temporarily, so we want to be careful that they don’t go overboard on overdraft protection.
PBN: Since you’re a cooperative spanning three states, has any legislation passed in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire that you think could benefit credit unions in Rhode Island?
GENTILE:
Last year, we passed interstate branching regulation that allows states’ charters to branch across state lines. Even though that was passed last year, we’re just now seeing the regulatory impact and we are looking at some credit unions that’re looking to take advantage of it. You could see, as we move forward, Rhode Island credit unions branching into Massachusetts and vice versa, so you might see something to that effect in Rhode Island. It helps our member get a better deal, so we haven’t really gotten a lot of push back on that one.

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