A Direct Line Blog

Ever wonder what your role as credit union board members is once you implement a retirement or retention program for your CEO and executive staff? According to a June 2017 article by John Pesh, CUNA Mutual Group Executive Benefits Director, your due diligence not only should, but must continue.  New focus and regulations on the fiduciary role make it even more important.

John notes, “Certainly, it’s worth the effort to attract and retain top C-suite talent with these incentives. But recent comments published by regulators clearly reaffirm that a credit union board’s oversight of SERPs shouldn’t stop once the programs are in place. Without regular review of SERPs, a credit union risks losses to its bottom line, and SERP recipients may get less deferred income than they’d planned if underlying investments don’t meet the initial projections. Another concern is that SERPs will create unexpected tax bills and penalties for recipients.”

Take the time to review this important message in John’s article and put it on the agenda to discuss at your next board meeting. You can find more information on Executive Benefits on the CUNA Mutual Group resource page.