Year in, year out maybe 150 credit unions go out of business, mainly as a result of mergers, but a few voluntarily close and NCUA sometimes shuts a few doors.
Year in, year out new credit unions spring to life. Two or three every year.
Do the math,. It’s grim. It’s not a pleasant look into credit union futures.
Now listen to Ben Hering, formerly director of engagement at the Minnesota Credit Union Network, where he helped birth Arise Credit Union. He now is director of CU System Partnerships at consultancy CuCollaborate where his focus is on helping to stimulate the development of de novo credit unions and his near-term goal is to double today’s birth rate.
How? In today’s show he tells how and he also acknowledges the hurdles.
This isn’t an easy task to take on but, as Hering says, he’s helped do it before and he expresses optimism that he can do it again.
He will need help from many corners. Including, notably, vendors to credit unions but also the regulators and politicians.
Is Hering’s a Sisyphean pursuit?
A cautionary tale is the story of Maine Harvest, a de novo credit union featured in episode 8 of this show. Hold the applause. Maine Harvest did successfully launch. But within a couple years it unfurled a white flag and merged into a bigger Maine credit union.
But, for now, Hering’s is an optimistic voice.
And many more new credit unions would indeed be a wonderful thing.
