51% of Credit Union CEOs Are Women, CUNA Study Shows

CUNA’s new credit union industry report, “Women in Credit Union Leadership,” found that 51% of CEOs and 33% of board members at credit unions in the United States are women.

The report, released by CUNA on Monday, revealed a drastic and cavernous difference between women in leadership positions at credit unions versus commercial banks. In fact, according to the report, the CEO at a credit union is six times more likely to be a woman than at banks. CUNA’s sample of 163 publicly-traded banks, with an asset size of less than $10 billion, found that only 3% of commercial bank CEOs in the U.S. were women in 2019, and on average 16% of board members were women.

“Women are significantly underrepresented in executive positions across all industries, particularly within the financial services sector,” CUNA Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Samira Salem said. “America’s credit unions are bucking this trend and our research shows that women not only have a seat at the table, but also play a major role in the financial success of the institution.”

According to CUNA, the board member data was harvested from available IRS 990 forms filed by state-charted credit unions between 2010 and 2019. The CEO data, which represents 86% of all credit unions, was collected from state- and federally-chartered credit unions, as well as IRS 990 forms, NCUA Call Report data and CUNA CEO data collected between 2010 and 2019.

Two other key findings of the report included:

• Among U.S. banks and credit unions with between $1 billion and $5 billion in assets, 13% of credit union CEOs are women versus only 2% of bank CEOs.
• At both banks and credit unions, women CEOs are relatively more common at smaller institutions.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed nearly three million women out of the workforce and women in senior management have been among the hardest hit. Our industry is working diligently to provide opportunities for women to remain employed and to achieve equity as they move toward the C-suite. We are also encouraged by the number of women who serve on the boards of their local credit unions,” Salem added. “While we are encouraged by our findings, we also know that there is more work to be done and we, as a movement, are committed to doing more.”

The full “Women in Credit Union Leadership” report can be downloaded here.