Credit unions completed 243mergers in 2013, which is slightly down from the 258 completedconsolidations in 2012, but still within the trend line of about200 to 250 mergers per year since 2000.

“I don't see anything dramatically different in 2013 than whatwe have seen over the longer term trend over the last five years,”said NCUA's Chief Economist John Worth.

From 2009 to 2013, there have been 1,145 mergers, or an annualaverage of 229 consolidations. About 90% of those credit unionsthat merged into larger counterparts had assets of less than $50million.

Only 9% of mergers over the last five years have involvedcredit unions with more than $50 million or $100 million in assets,according to Worth.

Generally, credit unions with less than $50 million in assetsmerge into larger credit unions to offer their membersadditional services such as mobile banking, which many small creditunions cannot afford to provide on their own. Other small creditunions have blamed their decision to merge because of increasingcosts of regulatory burdens, operations and low interest rates.

Though it's difficult to predict how the credit union mergerlandscape will develop over the next five years, Worth said hedoesn't see anything that will change the fundamental merger trendsthat have occurred over the last five years.

One thing is for sure, however, is if the current trend lineholds to about 229 mergers a year, there will be 5,409 creditunions by 2018 and 4,264 credit unions by 2023. Currently, thereare 6,554 credit unions, down from 7,699 cooperatives in 2009,according to NCUA.

Most of the mergers have occurred in 10 large-population statesthat have more than 200 credit unions, except for Virginia andWisconsin, which have 166 and 174 credit unions, respectively,according to NCUA data.

Last year, California posted the most mergers (18), followed byIllinois (17), New York (17), Ohio (15), Pennsylvania (15), Wisconsin (15), Texas (12), Michigan (12), Virginia (11) andMassachusetts (10).

These states accounted for 142, or nearly 60%, of the 243 creditunion mergers in 2013.

Typically, Worth said, large states post the most mergersbecause they have a high number of credit unions, including morecredit unions with assets of less than $50 million.

For example, California had 81 mergers over the last five years,or about 16 consolidations a year, but still has 369 credit unions.Pennsylvania posted 77 mergers over the last five years, or about15 every year, but still has 487 credit unions.

Nevertheless, in some of the other high population states withmore than 150 credit unions, only a few mergers occurredannually.

For example, in Florida with 158 credit unions, there were 25mergers over the last five years, or about five a year on average.Last year, the Sunshine State posted only three mergers.

In New Jersey where there are 196 credit unions, only 23 mergersoccurred in the Garden State from 2009 to 2013, or an average of 4per year. New Jersey did post six consolidations last year,according to NCUA.

Additionally, in Tennessee with 160 credit unions, there were 29mergers from over the last five years, or about 6 mergers a year.The Volunteer State recorded eight consolidations last year. And inIndiana with 158 credit unions there were 29 mergers over the lastfive years or about six annually. The Hoosier State posted sixmergers in 2013.

“Obviously there are many factors driving merger decisions,”Worth said. “One driver in the data is simply that as there arefewer credit unions in a state (i.e., Florida, New Jersey,Tennessee, Indiana) the proportion of very small credit unions isgenerally smaller — thus there are relatively fewer mergeropportunities or targets.”

Seven states — Alaska, Maryland, Maine, Montana, Nebraska,Nevada and Wyoming — posted no mergers last year, according toNCUA. All of these states have fewer than 100 credit unionseach.

Another seven states with fewer than 100 credit unions,Arkansas, Arizona, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, RhodeIsland and Vermont, each recorded only one consolidation last year.However, some states with more than 100 credit unions, such asGeorgia (138,) Missouri (130) and Washington (106), only posted onemerger in 2013.