PALM DESERT, Calif.–CUNA CEO Jim Nussle told an audience here credit unions are at a tipping point, and noted CU membership is growing at a pace five times faster than U.S. population growth.
But that membership growth is not bringing with it walletshare growth at the same pace, he said.
Speaking to the California and Nevada Leagues’ REACH Conference, Nussle said that when he was elected to Congress in 1992 to represent Iowa, the top 100 banks held 41% marketshare, community banks had 53%, and credit unions held 5.6%. Today, the top 100 hold 75.7% marketshare, while community banks have slid to 17%. Credit unions have gained a point of market share at 6.8%.
“Consumers are voting with their feet; they don’t want that 75%, and barely can stand that 15%,” he told the meeting. “They are coming to us. Credit union membership growth is growing five times faster than population of the country. Now I think we’re at a tipping point and we’ve got to give it a shove.”
Nussle said the recently approved CUNA strategic plan is designed to push CUs past that tipping point so that they remain “relevant for years to come.” The strategic plan is built around advocacy, consumer awareness, delivering best-in-class solutions, delivering the CUNA/league/CU value proposition, and growth, he said.
What he doesn’t want to see, he said, is any divisions among credit unions themselves.
“Co-opetition’ makes no sense,” said Nussle. “We aren’t big enough to not do this together.”