SEATTLE — More credit unions than ever before have increased the number of their relationships with their members, but far too many keep relatively little member contact, according to noted credit union consultant, Tony Ward-Smith.

"As an industry I am afraid we are still too often a mile wide but only an inch deep," Ward-Smith said. "Too many credit unions remain fixated on adding more members without having begun to really think about how they are going to deepen their relationships with the members they already have."

Ward-Smith drew his conclusions prior to the release of his latest listing of so-called high performing credit unions. High performing credit unions are those which shine according to two key metrics, Ward-Smith said, accounts-per-member and average account balances. High performing credit unions have higher numbers in both of these critical areas, he added.