Corporate America Credit Union – which claims member-owners in 32 states – has announced that it already has accumulated enough capital to boast a 4.13% capital ratio, above the NCUA requirements for an adequately capitalized corporate.
How it achieved that is the surprise, however, said CEO Thomas Bonds: "We do not require capital from members. That has always struck me as wrong."
Bonds said in an interview that the Irondale, Ala. corporate now has about 500 members and "about half have agreed to voluntarily to put in capital."
"We developed a business model that has never been tried and it is working," said Bonds, who explained that many members choose to put capital into Corporate America "as they become familiar with us. We simply will never require capital from members. But we are bringing in new capital every month as members decide that is what they want to do."
He also said he expected the number of Corporate America members to rise to around 700 by year-end. "I had two join today in fact. We are finding a lot of interest."
In a statement, Bonds added: ""By voluntarily investing in Corporate America's capital, our members have given us their highest vote of confidence. We have substantially the same amount of retained earnings as we did prior to the crisis and far more capital. In fact, we anticipate approaching a 5% interim leverage ratio within nine months."
The statement added that Corporate America's "asset size and the number of member credit unions have doubled in the past two years."
Bonds also said the merger of Corporate America with Louisiana Corporate – first announced early in the year – "is going forward. I feel very confident."
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