This week on CreditUnions.com we look at attracting millennials with a brand, boosting mobile banking, merging with members in mind, and more.
Here are five data points you need to know:
1.8%
In the fourth quarter of 2016, Linn Area Credit Union posted year-over-year member growth of 1.8%. That’s lower than both state and peer averages, but otherwise the credit union is growing fast faster than a speeding bullet, perhaps.
Year-over-year share and loan growth at the community chartered credit union was 11.4% and 20.5%, respectively. Both were greater than state and peer averages. Notably, this growth largely occurred within Linn Area’s current membership. It posted13.8% YOY growth in average member relationships compared with 8.4% for Iowa credit unions and 4.4% for credit unions between $250 million and $500 million in assets.
To help push its member growth into the realm of its share, loan, and relationship growth, Linn Area stepped into event sponsorship with its participation in the annual Cedar Rapids Comic Con in February 2017. To see how the sponsorship was more thanjust cosplay and comic books, check out Attract Millennials With A Power[puff] Brand
30,000
By the end of 2017, Y-12 Federal Credit Union hopes to see 30,000 active mobile banking users. Y-12 currently counts approximately 19,000 active mobile users from its base of 113,000 members. That tech-savvy crowd already makes 5,000 or so mobile depositsevery month.
To see the tactics, strategies, and best pratices the credit union finds successful, read How To Boost Mobile Banking
145-6
After years of considering a merger, by 2014 loan defaults and investment returns that couldn’t keep up with operational costs forced the board’s hand at RIDFCU. It needed a suitable merger partner.
Karen Hagerty, a biologist and project manager with the Corps who was an RIDFCU board member at the time, says the board delayed merging mainly because it didn’t want members to lose an institution that been around for a long time and it didn’twant the credit union to lose its identity.
But independence was not in the future. On Dec. 16, 2014, RIDFCU members agreed to merge with Gas & Electric Credit Union by a vote of 145-6.
To see how Gas & Electric has set the standard for transparent transactions, read A Merger Made For Members.
$849,520
Entrepreneurship is getting a jump-start in and around Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR, with the help of an enterprising group of credit unions and a not-for-profit lender called Business Impact NW.
Business Impact NW (BIN) is a certified CDFI, SBA, and USDA lender that so far has made 20 loans totaling $849,520 with credit union capital that came from a group of four institutions that joined with BIN in 2015 to address the needs of small and microbusinesses:BECU, Harborstone Credit Union, OnPoint Community Credit Union, and Verity Credit Union.
In A Safe Harbor For Small Business Banking Harborstone CEO Phil Jones discusses his credit union’s involvement with BIN.
$372.1 Billion
Credit unions had $372.1 billion in investments and cash as of Dec. 31, 2016. This is on par with year-end 2015. Fed agency debt instruments, the largest losses in the investment portfolio, were down approximately 9.5% year-over-year. However, cash atother financial institutions and Fed agency MBS increased by 6.4% and 4.2%, respectively, over last year.
To see what else has happened inside the credit union investment portfolio, check out Investments By The Numbers
Happy Reading!