Save One!

"While no financial institution should be too big to fail, they also shouldn't be too small to succeed!" - NCUA Vice Chairman, Kyle Hauptman

Not only have we been working with de novo credit unions, we’ve also been interviewing and working closely with small credit unions that are “at risk*” for merger. It doesn’t matter if we start four new credit unions a year if we are losing over 140 to mergers.

Out of the 4,572 credit unions remaining in the US, there are still 3,855 that are under $500M in assets. (Source NCUA Q1 2024). 

The Problems

  1. Shrinking capital, unable to offer new products and services to remain competitive
  2. Being held hostage by legacy cores and bad contracts 
  3. Retiring CEO and a lack of succession planning
Credit unions
merged

0

Out of existence
Last year

 

The Solutions

The CU De Novo Collective Foundation will also have a grant program for “at risk” credit unions*. Again, similar to the CDFI grant program we will have two categories: 

  1. Technical assistance - one idea is to offer a “cut the cord” program to buy them out of their bad contract so they can move forward.
  2. Capital - to provide them with enough capital to ensure they can remain competitive and avoid merger. 

Another solution lies in the sixth cooperative principle: cooperation among cooperatives (and key partners).

Credit Union Shared Services currently in the development phase that will provide leading-edge back-office, technology, and other services to small and startup credit unions at sustainable prices.

*"At risk" is defined as any credit union under $250M in assets with a declining capital ratio that has fallen below 7%

#nocreditunionleftbehind

Thank you to the Louisiana Credit Union Foundation for your support saving small credit unions. Click here to order your #nocreditunionleftbehind merchandise.