WESTBURY, N.Y.–NEFCU has a new name. The $3.4-billion CU, which was founded as Nassau Educators FCU, is now Jovia Financial Credit Union.
The credit union told Newsday it has been looking at a name change for the past several years and that the NEFCU name was outdated and confusing to its communities.
NEFCU is an acronym for Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union, which became the credit union's name in 1981. In 2006, NEFCU became its official name.
The credit union was founded in 1938 to serve a small group of teachers before expanding 10 years later to serve all public, private and parochial school employees in Nassau County, N.Y. It eventually expanded its FOM to serve anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school on Long Island. It changed its name to NEFCU in the early 1980s.
According to Jovia (pronounced JO-vee-ah), its new name is derived from the word jovial. The CU said the new name is intended to connote optimism, trust and “Banking on the bright side."
Its search for a new name began with 1,200 possible candidates that it then began whittling down, President/CEO John Deieso told Newsday.
"Jovia stood out to us because of the friendliness of it," Deieso was quoted as saying. "It's a way of joy. We wanted to find a name that matches the friendliness and the ease of doing business with us."
Jovia Financial has more than 198,000 members.