PORTLAND, Ore. — Could the wave of credit unions selling their card portfolios to banks or CUSO's have crested?
According to an analysis of NCUA data conducted by Asset Exchange, a leading CU card portfolio consultancy and brokerage that is a subsidiary of Fidelity National Information Services, roughly 350-400 credit unions have sold their card portfolios and outsourced their card programs since 2002.
But the trend, which advanced steadily into 2005, appears to perhaps have crested and subsided a bit. Frank Selker, president of Asset Exchange, noted that the trend line was most noticeable when the numbers were studied in terms of the dollar value of portfolios sold, with $450 million in CU card assets change hands in 2005.
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Selker attributed the shift to credit unions better managing their card portfolios, primarily by leveraging on their relationships with members, keeping their low fee structures and gradually catching up with other issuers when it came to rewards.
The firm's analysis also confirmed the lack of any single dominant buyer for CU card portfolios over the years. At different times any number of firms, from MBNA which merged with Bank of America to credit union-owned TNB Card Services, have all played a strong role in the market since 2002.
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