Credit Unions See Strong Membership Growth

Credit unions gained 676,583 new members during the first quarter of 2013, according to new data from research firm SNL Financial.

That increase is the third-highest quarterly increase of new credit union members since 2006, SNL reports.

The nonprofit financial institutions have increased the total number of members to 95.7 million as of March 31, an increase of 2.11% from 93.8 million one year ago, according to the firm's data. The industry reported quarterly increase of more than 600,000 members in four of the last five quarters. Credit unions have added 2.7 million members in the last five quarters, which is greater than the combined total of previous 11 quarters.

The credit unions with the highest organic membership growth over the last year are Navy Federal Credit Union -- the largest credit union in the U.S. -- which grew to 4.3 million at March 31, 2013 from 3.9 million a year ago; followed by the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and Raleigh, N.C.-based State Employees Credit Union.

The credit union that had the most overall, non-organic membership growth was Columbus, Ohio-based Pathways Financial Credit Union, which was created after a three-way merger of Columbus area credit unions in September 2012.

[See Also: Credit Unions Lead in Online Satisfaction]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio