NCUA Approves Numerous Charter Expansion Applications in Q1

Charter expansion applications were approved for 28 credit unions, according to the NCUA’s Q1 Merger Activity and Insurance Report released in May. The report also showed more than 150 credit unions secured automatic multi common bond charter expansions for small occupational or associational groups.

Ten applications for five credit unions that got the OK for underserved area charter expansions included the $749 million CBC Federal Credit Union of Oxnard, Calif. (4); the $98.8 million Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union of Fayetteville, N.C. (2); the $1.7 billion Meritrust Federal Credit Union of Wichita, Kan. (2); the $1.3 billion Wright Patman Congressional Federal Credit Union in Washington D.C. (1) and the $52.2 million Breco Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge, La. (1).

The NCUA deferred seven underserved area charter expansion applications, which generally means the application was not complete, lacks key elements required by the chartering manual or doesn’t demonstrate the ability and intent to serve the requested area.

Nine credit unions received approval for multiple common bond expansion charter applications for associational or occupational groups with each group having more than 3,000 potential members.

Those credit unions included the $5.5 billion State Employees Federal Credit Union of Albany, N.Y. (Guilderland, N.Y. – occupational); the $4.3 billion Tower Federal Credit Union of Laurel, Md. (Baltimore – associational); the $6.8 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union of East Lansing, Mich. (Lansing – associational); the $1.9 billion Three Rivers Federal Credit Union of Fort Wayne, Ind. (Richmond – occupational); the $2 billion Barksdale Federal Credit Union of Bossier City, La. (Baton Rouge – associational); the $2 billion Allegacy Federal Credit Union of Charlotte, N.C. (Charlotte – occupational); the $2.6 billion JSC Federal Credit Union in Houston (San Diego, Calif. – associational); the $359 million American United Federal Credit Union of West Jordan, Utah, (Salt Lake City – associational) and the $178 million Providence Federal Credit Union in Milwaukie, Ore., (San Diego, Calif. – associational).

In addition, for 159 federal credit unions, the NCUA automatically approved through its CAPRI system 2,306 associational or occupational groups with each group representing under 3,000 potential members. The federal agency’s report showed two groups were denied and nine were deferred.

For community expansion charters, the NCUA approved applications for eight credit unions including the $33.4 million Flagship Community Federal Credit Union of Port Huron, Mich.; the $629 million Northland Area Federal Credit Union of Alpena, Mich; the $2 billion Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union of Aberdeen, Md.; the $69.1 million Neighbors United Federal Credit Union of Greenwood, S.C.; the $493 million CSE Federal Credit Union of Lake Charles, La.; the $267 million Minnesota Valley Federal Credit Union of Mankato, Minn.; the $110 million MED 5 Federal Credit Union of Rapid City, S.D.; and the $224 million Service First Federal Credit Union in Sioux Falls, S.D. Six community expansion charter applications were deferred, according to the NCUA report.

Four community conversion charter applications were approved by the NCUA. Those credit unions included the $102 million Palco Federal Credit Union of Muncy, Pa.; the $70.7 million Leatherstocking Region Federal Credit Union of Cooperstown, N.Y.; the $6.9 million Box Butte Public Employees Federal Credit Union of Alliance, Neb.; and the $32.1 million Dale Community Federal Credit Union of Columbus, Neb. One community conversion charter was deferred.

Of the three single community bond charter expansion applications approved by the NCUA, two were for the $12.8 million Wakefern Federal Credit Union of Elizabeth, N.J. (Bayshore, N.Y. and Caldwell, N.J. – occupational) and one for the $1 million Abyssinian Baptist Church Federal Credit Union of New York (NYC – occupational). One application was deferred.

The NCUA also approved one charter conversion from state to federal for the $380 million Allegiance Federal Credit Union in Oklahoma City.