That advantage was cited by officials at a credit union in Silicon Valley and one in Iowa, where many new Hispanic members work in pork processing factories.

In a letter to credit unions in June 2015, then NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz urged credit unions to promote transparency on diversity issues, including providing demographic information on board members and other officials.

“These methods may include displaying the results of a credit union's diversity assessment, diversity metrics or profiles, and diversity efforts on its website, or within its written annual report to members, or both,” she wrote. “Transparency is not just metrics; it's about telling your credit union's full story or journey to embrace or enhance diversity and inclusion through your efforts.”

But the extent of a credit union's interest in board diversity is sometimes difficult to see.

Some credit unions have websites with clear links to a page about their board. Some show photographs of their board members, with short descriptions of their backgrounds and tenure on the board.

For other credit unions, the public must hunt hard to find board information on the institution's website, and it may only include a listing of their names. Sometimes these bare-bones lists are within a link to the credit union's annual report and require viewers to scroll to the back pages.

And some credit unions appear to have no information about their boards on their websites.

CUNA spokeswoman Vicki Christner indicated the trade association's members make their own decisions when it comes to achieving board diversity.

“Credit unions are democratic organizations that are owned and controlled by their members,” she said. “Members have equal opportunity for participating in setting policies and making decisions – including the ability to choose their boards. Policies on board composition – diversity, term limits, self-evaluation, continuing education requirements, etc. – are set by each credit union. CUNA does not collect information on those policies.”

While banks and other public companies are subject to more explicit reporting rules on diversity, credit unions are only subject to requests from the NCUA for voluntary reports on employee and board diversity. Its efforts are targeted at credit unions with 100 or more employees, a threshold drawn from regulations that apply to banks, and a group that employs more than 70% of the credit union workforce.

In March, the NCUA approved a diversity checklist as a collection tool for the voluntary responses it will begin collecting from credit unions in October. Questions on the assessment are related to various areas of diversity, including board, leadership, workforce and supplier diversity.

Canvassing credit unions about their diversity practices should not come as a surprise. The NCUA is required to do so under the Dodd-Frank Act and it established its guidelines for compliance three years ago.

Monica Davy, director of the agency's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, said the canvass won't hurt credit unions and might help them instead.

“[The] NCUA believes diversity is a good investment for credit unions,” Davy said. “Diversity leads to innovations, which enhances credit unions' ability to identify business opportunities and capitalize on them in new and more relevant ways.”

A Filene study completed in 2014 found that only half of credit unions had diversity policies for their boards. Since then, there has been little change, Galligan said.

“It's definitely slow to move,” she said.

Credit unions have cultural barriers to change in board nominating processes, she said.

“It's easy to get set in your ways and nominate friends with similar mindsets and knowledge,” she said. “It's hard to look outside of yourself.”

Galligan advised credit unions to implement a board evaluation process that is regular and repeatable. Boards should be constantly evaluating themselves, including their diversity of age, gender and ethnicity.

Having a diverse board is part of the strategy at Community 1st Credit Union ($573 million in assets, 56,147 members) for building its membership among the growing Hispanic population in southeast Iowa.

Many of the Hispanics came from Mexico in recent decades to work in pork processing plants. They are ideal candidates for growth because they have growing incomes and untethered financial loyalties.

David Suarez took a different route. The Ecuador native came to Iowa in 2006 on an H-1B to work as a journalist at a Spanish-language newspaper. Last year he joined the Ottumwa, Iowa-based credit union as its bilingual community development manager.

His job includes promoting diversity in all areas of the credit union – including its board. This year he helped recruit the nine-member board's first Hispanic member, Edith Cabrera, a community college instructor with an MBA who is now working on her doctorate.

“Our CEO was really open to bring diversity to the board,” Suarez said. “That is really important to us because we have a lot of Hispanics who are members of the credit union. It was important for us to represent these members on our board.”

Diversity efforts will help the credit union serve the community better. Many of the Hispanics are unbanked, as they grew up with the practice of paying for everything with cash.

The credit union can help Hispanics learn to use credit wisely to buy cars and homes. It can help new members by extending loans as small as $500 to help them build them their credit histories.

The credit union also developed a special mortgage to help Hispanics buy homes. The mortgage requires a hefty 20% down payment, but allows applicants to borrow based on their consular ID or federal Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.

Those programs have earned the credit union an award from the Iowa Finance Authority for promoting affordable single-family housing.

“The key thing in my daily job is trust. You have to gain trust with Hispanics,” Suarez said. “It's really hard to reach them, but when you finally reach them, they will do business with you for generations.”

Board diversity is also critical for First Technology Federal Credit Union ($9.1 billion in assets, 444,520 members). First Tech is based in Mountain View, Calif., and its members are drawn from many of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, including Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix, which founded the credit union in 1952.

First Tech members tend to be highly educated with a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

First Tech CEO Greg Mitchell said the credit union imposes no quotas, but the board considers age, gender and ethnicity along with skillsets in picking members. The 11-member board now includes three women including its chair Dotty Hays, an African American, two Asians and a Hispanic.

“We want a board that reflects our membership base,” Mitchell said. “It's just good business.”

First Tech also has a young membership base. Its median age is 38, compared with a national median in the 40s for credit union members.

“The challenge many credit unions face is how do they attract a younger membership base,” Mitchell said. “Having younger board members helps guide decisions that reflect the values and needs of younger members.”