Credit Union Merger Approvals 4Q2020

NCUA approved 37 mergers in Q4 of 2020 which increased from 34 last quarter. The combined assets of merged credit unions is $3.5B, which compares to $1.5B last quarter.

The mean and median assets of merged credit unions are $95.2M and $13.6M, respectively.

To view the largest mergers nationally, by region, or state since 2000 can be found at https://ceoadvisory.com/cu-acquirers-by-state/. 

LARGE CREDIT UNION MERGERS

There are five acquisitions of credit unions with assets exceeding $100 million this quarter.  The largest acquisitions are:

• Firefly Credit Union, located in Burnsville, MN, which is being merged into Trustone Financial CU ($1.7B) in Plymouth, MN.  Firefly has $1.5B in assets, 9.3% net worth ratio, 0.38% delinquent loan ratio, and 0.68% ROA. 
• Xceed Federal Credit Union, based in El Segundo, CA, which is being merged into Kinecta CU ($5.1B) in Manhattan Beach, CA.  Xceed has $934M in assets, 9.8% net worth ratio, 0.98% delinquent loan ratio, and -0.29% ROA.

CREDIT UNION MERGER STATS

The median size of acquiring credit unions is $1.97 billion.  There are nine credit union acquirers with assets exceeding $1 billion.

With $26 billion in assets, Pentagon FCU is the largest acquiring credit union in Q3.

The other continuing credit unions with assets exceeding $1 billion were:

• Truliant FCU ($3.1B)
• Metro CU ($2.3B)
• Communication FCU ($1.4B)
• SchoolsFirstCU ($22.6B)
• KInecta FCU ($5.1B)
• Trustone Financial CU ($1.7B)
• Spire CU ($1.4B)
• Self-Help CU ($1.4B)

The acquired credit unions on average represent 4.8% the of the assets of the acquiring credit unions.

The nearest merger of equals is:

• Firefly CU ($1.5B) merging into Trustone Financial CU ($1.7B), 88% acquiree/acquirer ratio

There are five credit unions with less than $1 million in assets being acquired. The smallest credit union merger is Canaan CU based in Urbana, IL with $267,000 in assets. 

REASONS FOR CREDIT UNION MERGERS

When seeking regulatory approval credit unions are required to cite the reason for the merger.  Of the 34 mergers in Q3, the following reasons were given:

Expanded Services	30
Poor Financial Condition	3
Conversion to or Merger with FISCU	1
Conversion to or Merger with NFICU	1
Corporate Restructuring	1
Lack of Sponsor Support	1
Grand Total	34

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF ACQUIRED CREDIT UNIONS

The median net worth ratio of the merging credit unions is 10.59%. There are 9 credit unions that have net worth ratios below 7.0%, which is considered undercapitalized.

The delinquent loans-to-total loans ratio averages 1.61%.  Twenty (20) of the 37 merging credit unions reported negative earnings year to date.  The mean return-on-assets (ROA) was -0.46% and median -0.19% for Q4 of 2020.

Below is a chart of the NCUA merger approvals for Q4 2020: