Rudy Hanley, chief executive of Orange County’s largest credit union, is getting a run for his money.
His Santa Ana-based Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union is seeing other credit unions come onto its turf.
Pasadena-based Wescom Credit Union plans to open an administration center in Anaheim Hills later this year that could employ up to 500 workers.
That would make Wescom the second-biggest credit union in OC by employees, behind OCTFCU and its more than 700 workers.
OCTFCU also is tops in assets with more than $6 billion, nearly 10 times that of the No. 2 OC-based credit union, Orange County’s Credit Union.
Wescom counts $3 billion in assets and is California’s fourth largest. OCTFCU is No. 2 statewide.
Others have made moves into OC, including Altura Credit Union, which changed its name in late 2004 from Riverside County’s Credit Union.
OCTFCU is sticking to plan, according to Hanley.
The credit union has 20 branches in OC and a handful in neighboring parts of Los Angeles and Riverside counties. It’s also keeping its focus on members from local schools and colleges, he said.
The rivalry with Wescom is friendly, according to Hanley.
Darren Williams, Wescom’s chief executive, earned his spurs at Hanley’s credit union as a senior vice president in charge of lending before leaving in 1997 to join Wescom.
OCTFCU’s strategy: a local focus. The credit union has put $60 million into a national program to help poor to moderate homebuyers.
Since the fall, the credit union has given $3.6 million to eight borrowers for homes in Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Orange, Tustin and in bordering communities in Riverside County.
OCTFCU waived the requirement of private mortgage insurance for borrowers and offered a 1% discount on the loans.
The credit union also is focusing on financial planning services. It offers to administer supplemental retirement plans for teachers and others at about 25 schools districts in the area.
“We are trying to get our members to plan sooner for retirement,” Hanley said.
Hanley’s family came to Los Angeles when he was 14, after the failed 1956 Hungarian Revolution that was crushed by the Soviets.
His father got his first job as a pattern maker in East Los Angeles, building wood molds for metal engine parts. Hanley worked odd jobs growing up, eventually earning a degree in mathematics at the University of California, Irvine, in 1972.
In 1973, Hanley took a job as a math and computer science teacher at Alhambra High School. A few years later, he earned his law degree from Western State University in Fullerton.
After law school, Hanley worked as a consultant for the Credit Union National Association, helping to develop position statements to fight off the Carter administration’s proposal to tax credit unions.
Last week, Hanley was named a director at the Credit Union National Association, the industry’s trade group.
The issue of taxing credit unions has emerged again amid the budget deficit and pressure from banks and thrifts.
“As long as credit unions stay true to their mission, all of this is just a distraction,” said Hanley, who was named to his current post in 1982.
