This column is designed to do just one thing-bring to light some stunning stats and figures I've noticed in recent weeks, each one telling a bigger story.
* Out in Washington, the $6.4 billion BECU made 61 SBA loans totaling $6 million in May. Wow! That ranked it below Bank of America, but ahead of Washington Mutual in the state of Washington for SBA lending. Impressive. A lot of former Boeing employees starting businesses?
* Fiserv's seven credit union data processing subsidiaries-XP Systems, CUSA Technologies, USERS, Summit, Galaxy, IntegraSys and AFTECH-together have 2,800 credit union processing clients!!! That's one-third of the entire credit union marketplace. For years, people have said Fiserv has too many CU data processing units and will surely consolidate some of them. From what I hear that's not in the plans any time soon, and why should it? Things are obviously working. What the groups need to do is share more products across company lines, which is starting to happen more and more. A bonus number for Fiserv-140. The company has done approximately 140 acquisitions to become the multi-billion dollar firm it is today.
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* A new CUNA study indicates that there are 79 million adults eligible for credit union membership. Add that to the 80 million current CU members, and you're looking at an impressive 160 million CU members. (Give or take; remember if one person belongs to three CUs, they are counted three times.) This potential to double membership screams one thing-national credit union branding campaign. There are still too many people who don't know what a credit union is. The industry is long overdue for a national campaign with staying power. Some states are already doing a bang up job, let's combine that power and go national and start making a dent in these 79 million potential members.
* Three. That is the three credit unions that are currently in the process of converting to banks-Sunshine State CU, Marcy FCU and Lafayette FCU. That's three too many, and you can call it four if you throw in Nationwide FCU's coming consolidation with Nationwide Bank.
The bad news is in all three pending conversions, member groups have yet to pop up. Hopefully they're on their way. More bad news, insiders tell me at least another dozen CUs are seriously considering converting. Once again a branding campaign could help. If more members knew about the benefits of CU membership and what they will lose upon conversion, it will be easier to thwart these conversions. Yes indeed, I am firmly against them Marv (no last name needed with him) and you other proponents, and it has nothing to do with the self-interest of Credit Union Times, as some purport. It's the greed factor and wool over members' eyes of previous conversions that I am against. Also, reasons for converting have been flimsy at best.
* A two-for-23,000 and $6 billion. That's the number of payday loan outfits as of 2005 and the amount of fee income they took in. Says what? People clearly rely on these much-maligned payday lenders for a financial service they apparently can't get elsewhere. Sadly, there is a market for payday lenders. Credit unions have a great opportunity to cut into this number, and help themselves and those relying on payday lenders.
* Up 1%, down 1%. In May loans were up about 1%, while savings were down 1%. Can you say liquidity crunch? Unfortunately many CUs are finding their loan portfolios haven't been laddered correctly to ensure liquidity and they are borrowing and selling off investments before maturity to raise cash.
* One-hundred and twenty-three. That's the number of lawmakers supporting the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act. Great news for CU morale, political involvement, etc., but the bill, which would bring risk-based capital and increase the member business lending cap, has a very small chance of seeing action any time soon.
* Close to $48 billion. That's the amount of assets expected to be in Health Savings Accounts by 2010. Are credit unions doing enough to position themselves for this windfall? I've seen some movement, but much more work needs to be done.
* Too many. I think any number of people complaining about volunteer representation on national credit union trade associations is too many-and the complaints were flying once again at NAFCU's Annual Conference. I would love to see credit union volunteers, who play a vital role in this industry, get more representation on the NAFCU and CUNA boards-I truly would. But please let's stop calling for designated seats just for volunteers. Where does it end? Volunteers can and will get on these boards, but it has to be democratic. They shouldn't be handed seats.
* Close to a 1,000. That's the number of people who were relieved at NAFCU's Annual Conference that NAFCU CEO Fred Becker's transformation into Spiderman stayed above the waist. For those who missed it, Becker unbuttoned his shirt during the opening general session (see page 33) to reveal a Spiderman get-up. It was an attention grabbing move and drove home Becker's point of credit unions being everyday institutions that can do extraordinary things. It was clever, it was fun, it was on message. But the thought of the NAFCU CEO in full Spiderman tights might have taken the point too far, and left an indelible mark on attendees. Good job Spidey.
* 288. That's the number of pages Credit Union Times published in the month of June. Readers are getting their money's worth, and more importantly the credit union industry continues to generate plenty of news to fill these pages. -Comments? E-mail [email protected]
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