Unlike hundreds of nonprofits here and nearly 3,000 credit unions in other states, Hawaii credit unions are not required to publicly disclose how much their top executives are paid because of a gap in federal law.

Even though the 42 nonprofit, federally chartered institutions here are publicly subsidized, they are able to keep Hawaii taxpayers — and thousands of the credit unions’ local owners — in the dark about compensation information for their senior executives.

The secretive nature of management pay is raising questions at a time when the industry is lobbying to preserve one of its key public subsidies: an exemption from Oahu property taxes.

The 10 largest credit unions in Hawaii declined or did not respond to a Star-Advertiser request to voluntarily disclose compensation data for their five highest-paid executives — the same type of information that many other nonprofits here, such as charities, schools and hospitals, and roughly 2,800 state-chartered credit unions on the mainland, are required to disclose.

The federal credit unions are not subject to the same disclosure requirement. But transparency advocates say even those credit unions should make public the salary and benefits for senior managers because the organizations are publicly subsidized.

If Oahu’s larger credit unions are unwilling to share compensation data, they could lose all or a portion of their property tax exemption, according to Ann Koba­ya­shi, budget chairwoman of the City Council, which next month will consider whether to overhaul the city’s exemption system. One recommendation the Council will debate is a repeal of the credit union exemption.

Kobayashi said she intends to ask for compensation data.

"If they don’t (disclose), there might be consequences," she added.

In addition to the salary data, the newspaper requested information on whether the top managers would receive financial payouts if they remained at the credit unions for a certain length of time or until they reached a certain age, an incentive that is designed to keep key executives from leaving. The deferred-compensation practice, called "golden handcuffs," is believed to be common among Hawaii’s larger credit unions.

A 2010 whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former Hawaii Community Federal Credit Union finance vice president provided an unusual glimpse into that secretive world.

Renee Inaba alleged that three top executives at the Hawaii island institution were paid $1 million, $750,000 and $650,000, respectively, once they reached a certain age. The payments were not based on merit, were large financial liabilities for the credit union and were not disclosed to members, according to her lawsuit, which is pending.

In court documents the credit union acknowledged that the board in 2001 approved deferred-compensation retirement plans for the three executives — it didn’t disclose details — but denied Inaba’s other allegations.

None of the 10 institutions the Star-Advertiser surveyed provided data on golden handcuffs or salaries.

Several institutions said such information is private or privileged, while saying that their executive compensation packages were in line with industry averages or with what other Hawaii credit unions of comparable size pay their top managers.

"We do not normally disclose compensation information as it may conflict with individual privacy concerns," Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union spokes­man Kristopher Kono wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "However, we can say our executive compensation is well below that of publicly traded institutions of similar size, and it does not exceed the industry averages," Kono added.

The confidentiality policies mean that the vast majority of Hawaii’s 800,000-plus credit union members, who collectively own their respective institutions, are not privy to what they pay these top executives. The organizations’ volunteer directors, who also are members and usually number no more than the nine on a board, have access to salary information because they oversee governance of the credit unions on behalf of their fellow members.

Along with the directors, Kono said, members of Aloha Pacific’s human resources and executive benefits committees, who also are credit union members, carefully monitor compensation and benefits.

"They review it regularly to insure members receive good value," Kono wrote.

While Hawaii taxpayers and most credit union members are kept in the dark about executive compensation, that’s not the case on the mainland where state-chartered institutions operate. Roughly 40 percent of the nation’s 7,200 credit unions are state-chartered, according to Mike Shenk, senior economist for the Credit Union National Association, the industry’s main trade group.

The Internal Revenue Service requires all state-chartered credit unions to annually file 990 tax forms, which are accessible to the public and include the names and compensation amounts of the five highest-paid executives at those institutions.

But federally chartered institutions are not required to file 990s.

And the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates federally insured credit unions across the country, does not have publicly available compensation information for individual executives, said John Zimmerman, a public affairs specialist for the agency.

Zimmerman said the lack of a disclosure requirement has been discussed by the NCUA but that no consensus was reached. "It certainly goes to the issue of transparency, and it’s an important topic," he said.

Because of their nonprofit status, credit unions nationally are exempt from federal and state income taxes. In Hawaii they also are exempt from property taxes. On Oahu that means credit unions pay a minimum of $300 for each parcel they own, regardless of the value of the property, potentially saving thousands of dollars each year.

In exchange for the public subsidizes, the credit unions say, they provide affordable financial services that affect even bank customers, whose institutions have to consider credit union pricing when setting rates and fees.

While none of the 10 largest credit unions disclosed pay data, the Hawaii Credit Union League, the local industry trade group, spoke on behalf of some of those institutions and provided the Star-Advertiser with the latest information from a biennial compensation survey showing average salaries of senior executives.

In 2010, for instance, the average salary of the chief executive officers at 12 credit unions with assets topping $200 million was $187,510, according to the group. Executive vice presidents at those institutions earned an average salary of $114,817.

League President Dennis Tani­moto cautioned in a statement that the averages should be viewed with the understanding that the 12 institutions varied widely in asset size, ranging from $234 million to $1.2 billion.

Tanimoto said nine of the 12 credit unions offered deferred compensation plans to senior executives, and four offered performance incentive plans.

Asked how the publicly subsidized industry could justify keeping executive compensation information from the public, Tani­moto said the release of such data would be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Asked why Hawaii credit union members should be treated differently from members of state-chartered institutions in terms of access to information, Tani­moto said, "As far as I know, federal credit unions in all states do not publicly disclose individual executive compensation information."

Natalie Iwasa, a certified public accountant and member of the advisory commission that recommended the City Council consider repealing the credit union exemption, said "it’s not right" that the institutions refuse to disclose compensation data.

"Any time somebody doesn’t want to disclose information or they’re very hesitant, it makes me wonder why," Iwasa said.