The financial crisis claimed a lot of companies that many thought were on sound footing, including some big credit unions, whom we tend to associate with staid, conservative institutions immune to the chicanery that dogged others. The blame game continues in Washington, where the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has made clear that it holds bulge bracket investment banks responsible for the demise of five wholesale credit unions.

The regulator wants Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase to make good on more than $50 billion worth of soured mortgage-backed securities, which were once rated AAA, that they sold to the credit unions before the implosion. The regulator charges that the banks misrepresented the risks at the time of the sales to the wholesale credit unions, which bought the bonds on behalf of many retail credit unions.

The credit unions at issue are Constitution Corporate, Members United Corporate, Southwest Corporate, U.S. Central Corporate and Western Corporate. They all went into conservatorship under their federal regulator.

This is an aggressive move, and it could get ugly. In some ways, this looms as a replay of issues that have been hashed out relentlessly in the media and in court. But if it gets to a proceeding, it will be interesting to hear how the bank's sales teams sold the securities to the credit unions.

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