Orange County’s credit unions saw their asset growth increase accelerate with a 26% increase, according to the Business Journal’s annual ranking.
The 17 credit unions on the list reported $32.9 billion in assets as of June 30. By contrast, growth was up 8.6% in 2019, 7.2% in 2018 and 10% in 2017.
Annual growth for the local credit union industry has been mostly in the single digits since the 2008 financial crisis. While much higher this year, credit union growth for the second straight year was again slower than the 31% jump reported by OC-based commercial banks (see separate story, page 21).
Net Income Up
The credit unions also reported an 18% decrease in net income to $101.9 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with an 18% jump a year earlier and a 31% increase in 2018. Only three of the 17 credit unions reported an increase in profit from the prior year.
The list ranks the 17 OC-based member-owned credit unions by assets. It also includes their net incomes, local employment and branches in operation, though those metrics don’t factor into the rankings.
All 17 institutions grew assets over the year, including six by more than 10%.
Employment at credit unions was up 1%, with 3,458 employees.
The firms reported OC memberships were flat at 736,573.
They reduced their branch count by three to 65.
No. 1 SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union had by far the most branches, with 19, followed by 10 at No. 3 Orange County’s Credit Union and nine at Credit Union of Southern California.
Santa Ana has the most credit union headquarters on our list, with four, followed by Huntington Beach with two. Irvine, which has the most bank headquarters at nine, has no credit unions on this week’s list inside its city limits.
Five Largest
• Perennial No. 1, Santa Ana-based SchoolsFirst, retained the top position with $21.6 billion in assets, up 35% year-over-year. It accounts for 66% of ranked firms’ assets, compared with 61% a year ago.
The credit union reported net income of $81 million, down 8.8%, for the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period a year ago. Its OC employment was estimated flat at 2,029 and its memberships were also flat at 452,159.
SchoolsFirst has more assets than Irvine-based Pacific Premier Bank, the largest commercial bank in OC, with $20.5 billion in assets.
SchoolsFirst will soon be moving headquarters to Tustin, where it already has a large operations base and a new office under construction.
• Nuvision Federal Credit Union in Huntington Beach retained the No. 2 spot by growing its assets 9.2% to $2.6 billion. Its net income fell to $1.9 million from $8 million a year ago.
• No. 3 Orange County’s Credit Union in Santa Ana boosted assets by 18% to $2 billion. Its net income fell to $5.1 million from $6.5 million a year ago. The credit union employs 341 locally, up 6.2%, and has 117,990 members, up 2.8%.
• No. 4, Credit Union of Southern California in Anaheim, grew assets 19% to $1.9 billion. The institution said net income fell to $9.2 million from $10.8 million a year ago. It has 27,358 members in Orange County, a 1% increase from a year ago.
• LBS Financial Credit Union, which debuted on the 2019 list when it moved a year ago from Long Beach to Westminster, retained its No. 5 place. It was originally founded in 1935 as Long Beach School District Employees Federal Credit Union.
Its assets climbed 12% to $1.7 billion. It reported $4 million in net income, down from $5.3 million a year early. It has 159 employees and 15,193 members in Orange County.
