Orange County’s credit unions saw their asset growth increase again, according to the Business Journal’s annual ranking.
The 18 credit unions on the list reported an asset increase to $26.1 billion as of June 30, up 8.6% from the same period a year earlier.
By contrast, growth in 2018 was 7.2%, and 10% in 2017.
Annual growth for the local credit union industry has been mostly in the single digits since the 2008 financial crisis. Credit union growth last year was slower than the 12% jump reported by OC-based commercial banks (see separate story, page 29).
Net Income Up
The credit unions also reported an 18% increase in net income to $124.7 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with a 31% jump a year earlier. Only seven credit unions on the list reported an increase in profits, though, while 11 were down.
The list ranks the 18 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.
Eleven institutions grew assets over the year, but only two by more than 10%. Seven credit unions reported asset declines.
Credit unions are also boosting their hiring, reporting a 32% jump to 3,288 as of October.
The firms reported OC memberships rose about 7.5% to 797,620.
They also increased their branch count by three to 66.
No. 1 SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union had by far the most branches, with 22, followed by No. 3 Orange County’s Credit Union and Credit Union of Southern California, with 9 apiece.
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 11, has no credit unions inside its city limits.
Five Largest
• Perennial No. 1 Santa Ana-based SchoolsFirst retained the top position with about $16 billion in assets, up 6.4% year-over-year. It accounts for 61% of ranked firms’ assets, compared with 66% a year ago.
The credit union reported net income of $88.8 million, up 17%. Its OC employment rose 51% to 2,029 and its memberships jumped 10% to 452,159.
SchoolsFirst has more assets than Irvine-based Pacific Premier Bancorp, the largest bank in OC, with $11.8 billion in assets.
SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union will soon be moving headquarters to Tustin, where it already has a large operations base. In July, it closed on a 1.8 acre site from the city for $2.9 million, where it plans a three-story, 180,000-square-foot headquarters. It already has some corporate functions in a two-story 150,000-square-foot building adjacent to the new site.
• Nuvision Federal Credit Union in Huntington Beach climbed from third place to second place by growing its assets by 48.3% to $2.4 billion.
The credit union in October of last year acquired Anchorage, Alaska-based Denali Federal Credit Union.
The combined credit union serves more than 160,000 members across 31 branches in California, Alaska, Arizona, Washington, and Wyoming. Its OC membership is about 46,850.
Its net income more than doubled to $8 million.
Nuvision Chief Executive Roger Ballard remained in the same position while Denali CEO Bob Teachworth is leading Denali’s operations in the Pacific Northwest. Denali is operating as a division of Nuvision and continues to operate its branches and retain its branding.
• Orange County’s Credit Union in Santa Ana slipped to third place, even though its assets rose 4.8% to $1.7 billion. Its net income dropped 43% to $6.5 million.
The credit union employs 321 locally, up 1.9%, and has 114,738 members, up 5.8%.
• No. 4, Credit Union of Southern California in Anaheim, reported growth of 9.1% to $1.6 billion. The institution said net income jumped 49% to $10.8 million. Its employee count more than doubled to 238. It has 38,888 members in Orange County, a 2.8% increase from a year ago.
• LBS Financial Credit Union debuted on this year’s list at No. 5 when it moved a year ago from Long Beach to Westminster. It was originally founded in 1935 as Long Beach School District Employees Federal Credit Union.
It reported $5.3 million in profit, a 19% decline from the same six month period a year ago. It has an estimated 60 employees and 19,115 members in Orange County.
