January Sees Large Merger, Underserved Area Addition, but Monthly Totals Do Not Stand Out

ALEXANDRIA, Va.-As previously reported in Credit Union Times, a large merger and adoption of an underserved area were out of the norm, but NCUA's monthly totals for the two categories were not. Pennsylvania saw charter activity among some large credit unions in January, according to NCUA's January 2005 Insurance Report of Activity. Not only did American Heritage Federal Credit Union adopt the entire City of Philadelphia, population 1.5 million, as an underserved area, but also Citadel Federal Credit Union and Atlantic Credit Union merged into a nearly billion-dollar credit union. Other than that, charter activity was relatively average for the month. Eight credit unions converted to a community charter, the largest of which was $113.5 million Central Bergen Federal Credit Union in Hackensack, N.J. that was approved for a community of 1.4 million potential members. Community charter conversions added just 2.6 million potential members in January. Additionally, there were just two community charter expansions last month for nearly 1.1 million new potential members, but Genesis Federal Credit Union of Springfield, Va. accounted for more than a million of those. Federal credit unions adopted 16 underserved areas. Aside from American Heritage, other highly populated areas included Campus and ASI Federal Credit Unions, each of which adopted Orleans Parish as an underserved area with nearly half a million residents. New Alliance Federal Credit Union in Ambridge, Pa. adopted an underserved area of 324,424 potential members. Pacoima Development Federal Credit Union out of California, a new charter approved last month with 178 potential members, also added an underserved area of 185,323 in Los Angeles County in January. Mergers continued on at a steady pace. A total of 23 took place in January. Of those, eight merged credit unions were under $1 million in assets and another 10 were below $10 million. Prince Hall of New Jersey Federal Credit Union was the smallest at $185,487, which was merged into $136 million South Jersey Federal Credit Union. -scooke@cutimes.com