Banking for the agricultural industry has not made many ripples in tech-heavy Orange County. But the largest credit union in California for farm employees has its headquarters in Buena Park and has been making its own fanfare.
California Agribusiness Credit Union has $17 million in deposits, about 3,300 members and is in the middle of updating it business model and making two acquisitions.
The credit union is in the process of merging Ventura-based Citrus and Avocado Employees Federal Credit Union into its operations, which will bring in $1 million in deposits and about 1,000 more members. George Maisel, the vice chairman and senior vice president of California Agribusiness, said that the credit union also is closing in on another agricultural-focused credit union with about $2 million in deposits and another 1,000 members. Maisel said his organization is interested in bringing more credit unions into its fold but will wait until it finishes digesting these two acquisitions.
The acquisition activity comes 18 months after the credit union changed its name, brought in new management and renewed the organization’s business plan.
“We took it over because the credit union wanted to expand its member base,” Maisel said. The credit union, previously the California Dairy and Associates Credit Union, is managed by Irvine-based United Agribusiness League, an organization of 1,200 agricultural companies that was formed in 1980 that provides community and services to agricultural companies and their employees.
“In order for this credit union to continue to prosper, it needed to change the demographics of the membership. The membership was getting older and became strictly savers, not borrowers,” Maisel said.
It also wanted to get away from being confined to employees in the dairy industry. The credit union was previously headquartered in the city of Commerce, near some of the dairy companies.
“And we had to get out of the dairy environment,” Maisel said.
As of the end of 2000, the credit union had $17 million in deposits, but only had assets of $6.4 million, leaving a lot of room for loan growth.
“We have a lot of money to lend out. We are interested in bringing in young members,” Maisel said. Maisel runs the organization with Bill Goodrich, the credit union’s chief executive who is also the president and chief executive of the United Agribusiness League.
“There are other smaller credit unions that are in the same position we were. They were successful because they had deposits and loans, but did not have the resources (for loan growth),” Maisel said.
The credit union added ATM services, checking accounts, telephone banking and more home mortgage products. Previously, the credit unions, like most other agricultural-centered credit unions, had primitive forms of deposit, withdrawal and loan operations.
Since the change, the credit union attracted about 800 more members, and is in the process of adding credit and debit cards and online banking operations. It is also going out into farms, dairies and other agricultural operations to promote the credit union.
“We will go out in the fields and recruit,” Maisel said. The credit union is also making a push to grow it membership in the Hispanic community working in the agricultural industry.
“A lot of agricultural workers have a suspicion of keeping money in banks,” Maisel said. n
