Thursday, January 16, 2014

Over Half of All CUs Saw Membership Declines

The available evidence shows that credit union membership growth is concentrated primarily among large credit unions.

CUNA Mutual in it December 2013 Credit Union Trends Report stated:

"Between Q3 2012 and Q3 2013, CUs with assets in excess of $1 billion (210 CUs) accounted for 66% of all membership gains. During the same period, 3,684 CUs (55% of all CUs) reported membership declines. These CUs held 24% of industry assets. Included in this group are 42 CUs with assets above $1 billion."

CUNA Mutual points out that credit unions added 3 million members over the twelve-month period ending in September 2013. This means that 168 credit unions with $1 billion or more in assets added almost 2 million of these members during the 12-month period ending Septmeber 30, 2013.

In addition, NCUA confirmed this trend noting that only credit unions with more than $500 million in assets on average reported year-over-year membership growth (5.8 percent), as of the end of the third quarter of 2013. Credit unions with less than $500 million in assets generally saw a decline in membership growth and the pace of decline accelerated the smaller the credit union.

Credit unions with less than $10 million in assets saw their membership fall by 10 percent compared to a decline of 5.2 percent for credit unions with between $10 million and $100 million in assets and a decline of 0.1 percent for credit unions with between $100 million and $500 million in assets.

4 comments:

  1. keith - we are eating our young. the growth is due to credit union mergers and liquidations. the small credit unions are shutting down at the speed of light. the large credit unions are not growing organically. the large credit unions are growing by way of mergers and liquidations. Why spend money on organic growth when you can grow your membership by eating your young?

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. Methodical cannibalization. In this the real cu owners, NCUA and CUNA, are no different than bank owners.

      What was a cooperative system is now tyrannical and probably obsolete, just preparing to be absorbed into the banking system 10 years from now.

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  2. Perhaps the loss of membership in smaller CUs is due to regulatory requirements mandated by failure of banks to act like good citizens (mortgages, privacy, truth-in-[fill in the bland]) which caused the CFPB to be created. Maybe because today's consumers want services that small institutions cannot afford due to low margins and high investment/people/regulatory costs.

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  3. The large credit unions are growing by merger and liquidation of the small?
    We are eating our young?
    Really?
    Name one merger by a large credit union of a healthy small credit union.
    If you can, you won't be able to name 5 others.
    Here is what is eating alive credit unions....lack of need.
    There are too many credit unions and banks.
    Bluebird is only about a year old and probably has more members than 3000 small credit unions.
    There is another thing eating credit unions...credit unions.
    We have been paying dues to trade associations that have won us ZERO of the regulatory relief we need and while they've watched congress kill us with more
    CFPB-S!

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