By Ray Birch
ATLANTA—A credit union with a strong national tie to the U.S. Postal Service says the only way it can expand effectively within its state is to go into new markets with a new name.
The credit union, the $2.1-billion Atlanta Postal CU, is still keeping its streamlined APCU moniker, but is also adding a sub-brand: Center Parc.
As CUToday.info reported, the CU plans to open two Chatham County Center Parc locations in September inside two Walmart stores, and a free-standing flagship branch in the spring of 2021. All Center Parc offices operate as a division of Atlanta Postal.
As CUToday.info also reported here, Center Parc CU has announced a naming rights deal with the stadium that is home to Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta that used to be home to the Atlanta Braves.
APCU CEO Chuck Head told CUToday.info the credit union is looking for a way to jump start membership and account growth, which has become “stagnant.” He feels the CU’s name, even the abbreviated version, is not as appealing as Center Parc to prospective members in Georgia outside the Atlanta area.
“Outside of our local area, and outside of U.S. Postal workers, why would you want to do business with an Atlanta credit union?” he said.
Head said streamlining the name to APCU—the APCU logo still carries the credit union’s full name at the bottom—has not been enough to lower barriers to consumers.
“We felt like we needed to start experiencing some more substantial growth in membership and assets because our growth trajectory had somewhat flattened,” Head said. “It really became a straight line.”
Lesson From Another CU
Head said prior to developing the Center Parc brand, he and the CU’s leadership ran through several different ideas. He said he had seen Illinois-based Baxter Credit Union enter the Peach State by merging in credit unions but allowing them to retain their names and operate as a division of the Baxter.
Chuck Head
“I said to myself, ‘I like what Baxter is doing, but I do not want to have to grow by merger.’ So, rather than having to merge in other credit unions I thought about creating a sub-brand,” he said. “I thought this would generate much more consumer interest in APCU outside of Atlanta and we then proposed the concept to our board of directors. They liked the idea and grabbed onto it.”
The credit union has been sitting on a large capital buffer, at 13.64% through June. Head explained APCU had the option of returning some of thenet worth to the membership in the form of a patronage dividend, “or we could take some of that money and make an investment in the credit union’s future.”
A Wise Move
Head said the decision has been a wise strategic move for a credit union that has expanded to a community charter while still serving members of the Postal Service.
“You are hearing more and more about the instability of the Postal Service, that it is losing money, and we see all of the success other community chartered credit unions around us are having. So, we felt the Center Parc brand is the answer,” Head explained.
The 11-office APCU plans to expand to possibly 15 branches in the next two years, of which about five will be branded as Center Parc, Head said. The credit union will add new Center Parc locations and convert existing offices to the sub-brand in areas of Georgia that are growing and in which the credit union has already added offices via mergers.
The newest Center Parc offices will be located in Chatham County, Georgia, which is on the southeastern coast of the state around Savannah and which is experiencing a great deal of expansion, said Head, who added APCU is also looking at the other regions of the state to someday add Center Parc branches.
COVID-19 Not Affecting Plans
The COVID-19 crisis has not affected the credit union’s plans for expansion, said Head.
“Other than our investment yields being a little lower, the pandemic has not had a huge negative effect on the credit union,” stated Head. “We anticipated our capital being a little higher at this point, but we still have sufficient capital to move forward with our Center Parc efforts.”
While it may not be readily apparent, the Center Parc brand has a tie-in to APCU’s original field of membership.
“We chose to spell park, parc,” explained Head. “Parc is short for parcel.”