NEW YORK—The need for the emergency merger between PenFed FCU and taxi medallion lender Progressive CU is apparent in the latest NCUA Call Report data.
At the close of 2018, Progressive’s net worth had slipped to negative 1.58%--a slide all the way from a high of 44% several years ago.
As CUToday.info reported, Progressive was quickly merged into PenFed at the start of the year. NCUA approved the emergency merger, which became effective Jan. 1, raising immediate complaints from the banking industry.
At the close of the year, Progressive—the last taxi-medallion lender in New York City left standing after Montauk CU, Melrose CU and LOMTO FCU all failed due to the impact on their portfolios from Uber and Lyft—posted nearly a $103-million loss for 2018.
Progressive’s capital fell from $44.5 million as of September 2018 to negative $5.2 million at the end of 2018. The loss for the fourth quarter was $49.7 million.