While most of the credit unions consolidated out of existence in this year's first quarter had fewer than $50 million in assets, two larger-asset credit unions were merged for expanded services and one for poor financial condition. Additionally, one credit union with more than $190 million in assets had three mergers approved by the NCUA in the first quarter – an uncommon occurrence.

Pennsylvania posted the most mergers with five, followed by California, Ohio and Michigan with four each. Illinois and Texas each had two consolidations in the first quarter.

Beyond the first quarter merger numbers, nine credit unions publicly announced new consolidation agreements in April and May, including two credit unions that are planning to merge into a large California cooperative. (Click on image to expand credit union merger map.)

In May, both the $20.3 million Eagle Credit Union in Lodi, Calif., and the $5.1 million San Francisco Municipal Railway Employees Federal Credit Union in San Francisco announced plans to merge with the $2.2 UNIFY Financial Federal Credit Union, formerly Western Federal Credit Union, in Torrance, Calif.

Also in May, the $43.1 million Ryder System Federal Credit Union in Medley, Fla., said it planned to consolidate with the $574 million Power Financial Credit Union in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

In April, the $46.4 million Oak Trust Credit Union in Plainfield, Ill., said it planned to consolidate with the $116 million NorthStar Credit Union in Warrensville, Ill., and the $54 million Freedom Credit Union in Rocky Mount, N.C., said it intends to merge with the $2.6 billion Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C.

The largest strategic merger approved by the NCUA in the first quarter was the $324 million, Woodbridge, Va.-based Belvoir Federal Credit Union's merger into the $19.9 billion Pentagon Federal Credit Union in Alexandria, Va.

The consolidation, completed May 1, will bring PenFed closer to $20 billion in assets, making it the third credit union in the nation to reach that milestone. The Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal Credit Union is No. 1 with $75.1 billion in assets and SECU of Raleigh, N.C., is second with $33.3 billion in assets.

The second largest consolidation approved by the federal agency was the $224 million Community Financial Credit Union in Broomfield, Colo.'s merger into the $602 million Warren Federal Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo.

The combined cooperatives were renamed Blue Federal Credit Union. The institution now has assets of more than $840 million and 72,332 members in the southern Wyoming and northern Colorado marketplaces.

Stephanie Teubner is CEO of Blue and Greg Hill, former president/CEO of Community Financial, is president of Blue.

The newly merged credit union expects to open its new headquarters in Colorado before 2018.

The third largest credit union merger approved by the NCUA involved the conserved $162 million Montauk Credit Union. The New York City-based cooperative was placed into conservatorship because of its financially troubled taxi medallion loan portfolio and was merged into the $6.2 billion Bethpage Federal Credit Union in Bethpage, N.Y.

Christensen predicted merger deals among credit unions with assets of more than $100 million will gradually increase over the next few years to capitalize on the advantages of scale in competitive markets.

“Overall, I think consolidations represent a strategic shift and credit unions are more and more seriously investing in mergers as a primary strategy for expansion,” he said. “I think there are more credit unions that have put into place some very aggressive merger strategies.”

For example, the $191 million Cardinal Credit Union in Mentor, Ohio, a suburban city on the east side of Cleveland, had three mergers approved by the NCUA in this year's first quarter.

The three credit unions that will consolidate into Cardinal this summer are the $37.3 million Edison Financial Credit Union in Austintown, Ohio, the $17.9 million Erie Shores Community credit union in Westlake, Ohio and the $3.2 million Youngstown Ohio City Employee Credit Union in Youngstown, Ohio.

In addition to its acquisition of these three cooperatives, Cardinal sealed two other merger deals, bringing its total consolidations to five since 2010, when Christine Blake was appointed CEO.

“In 2010, our credit union was about $150 million in assets, and by July 30, when we complete these three mergers we will be at about $250 million in assets,” Blake said.

Blake also noted the credit union has had a good share of internal growth, driven by Cardinal's marketing campaigns and its branches at two high schools and two colleges.

Although most mergers were approved by the NCUA for expanded services, 11 credit unions, or 20% of consolidations, were green-lighted in the first quarter because the cooperatives were in poor financial condition.

All but two of the financially struggling credit unions that had less than $50 million in assets included the $1 million 1st Select Federal Credit Union in Hopkinsville, Ky., into the $42.9 million Veritas Federal Credit Union in Franklin; the $546,760 Cerrobrass Credit Union in Sauget, Ill., into the $10.6 million Processors-Industrial Community Credit Union in Granite City; the $2.2 million Electrical Workers Credit Union in Collinsville, Ill., into the $317 million GCS Credit Union in Granite City; the $15.8 million Cornerstone Credit Union in Caldwell, Idaho into the $402 million Pioneer Credit Union in Mountain Home, Idaho and the $68.5 million Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union in Clarkston, Mich., into the $3.2 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union in East Lansing, Mich.

Additional credit unions that were forced to consolidate because of poor financial condition included the $162 million Montauk Credit Union in New York City into the $6.6 billion Bethpage Federal Credit Union in Bethpage; the $3.2 million Monroe Credit Union in Monroe, La., into the $268 million Pelican State Credit Union in Baton Rouge, La.; the $15.2 million Greater Piedmont Credit Union in Durham, N.C., into the $737 million Self-Help Credit Union in Durham; the $3 million Panhandle Cooperative Credit Union in Scottsbluff, Neb., into the $315 million Meridian Trust Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo.; the $627,281 Faith Based Credit Union in Oceanside, Calif., into the $747 million Pacific Marine Credit Union in Oceanside and the $17.1 million Puget Sound Credit Union in Seattle into the $422 million Qualstar Credit Union in Bellevue, Wash.