While 63% of members say they trust their credit union a greatdeal, only 18% of credit union households surveyed place a greatdeal of trust in credit union financial advisers.

That's one of the findings from a study from Charlotte,N.C.-based research firm Kehrer Saltzman & Associates, which was sponsored byCUNA Brokerage Services Inc.

“There is a wide gap between how credit union members view theircredit union and their perception of the financial advice they can get from the credit union,” said TimKehrer, senior research analyst at Kehrer Saltzman and a co-authorof the study.

Members of credit union households were twice as likely to placea great deal of trust in credit unions as banks, and 13 times morelikely to have great trust in credit unions than a stock brokeragefirm, Kehrer noted.

“Yet they are twice as likely to turn to a stockbroker as theirprimary source of financial advice instead of the financial adviser based in their credit union,” said KennethKehrer, another co-author and a principal of Kehrer Saltzman.

The authors suggested some reasons for the discrepancy betweenmembers' great trust in their credit union and less trust in theadvisers that work there.

“One reason may be that they don't find them there,” Tim Kehrersaid. “Our research indicates that only 12% of credit unionsprovide investment services to their members. And many ofthose that do have an investment services offering do not promoteit to their members, who remain unaware that they can get qualityinvestment advice right at their credit union.”

Still, there is a place for credit unions to stand out.

“Credit unions have an incredible opportunity to better servetheir members who would prefer to invest where they bank, andcapture the lion's share of their members' financial assets,”Kenneth Kehrer said. “But they have to find ways to elevatethe standing of their advisors in the eyes of their members.”

The survey includes detailed financial and other data for 2,040households with a credit union member, which are representative ofthe 56.2 million credit union households in the U.S., according toKehrer Saltzman.