The Rundown

• More technology and more sharing will give credit unions an edge.
• Banks are not the only competitors CUs face.
• Many small credit unions will not survive.

Just when you thought the bleeding had stopped–the corporate credit union blow ups are passed their worst stage; the global economy is on the mend; consumer optimism is ticking up–there is more gut-wrenching news in store for credit union executives.

The headline news is that there is no going back. Giant, encompassing mega-trends are remaking the credit union universe and before this is over, just about every credit union will feel the changes. Some will get bigger, some will close, but for all the news is the same: "Change is coming, like it or not," said Fred Becker, CEO of NAFCU.

Exactly what are these mega trends? Experts are quick to highlight the issues, the perils and the opportunities. "The very existence of credit unions is now in question," warned Louis Hernandez Jr., CEO of technology company Open Solutions and author of Too Small to Fail: How the Financial Industry Crisis Changed the World's Perceptions. According to Hernandez, many credit unions continue to stumble in their efforts to remake their business model. The move into community-based credit unions is not as simple as some thought. Not all will survive.