What’s less likely than that Eagles’ reunion back in 1994? CUNA and NAFCU merging.

There was a time when that was unthinkable. Too many differences between their memberships.

Why open with that old reference? Because back in my day (cue old-lady voice), when I started in credit unions, Ken Robinson was still the CEO at NAFCU for 16 years. Shortly after, Fred Becker became the CEO in 2000 serving until 2013. During his tenure, he made what was considered a controversial hire at the time. He hired Dan Berger to serve as NAFCU’s head lobbyist.

The decision made headlines at the time, because immediately prior to that point, Dan had been the chief lobbyist at the now-defunct America’s Community Bankers. ACB had a reputation for being rabidly anti-credit union.

But Dan is a top-notch lobbyist, and Fred saw that. Dan succeeded Fred as CEO of NAFCU in 2013. Dan will have served a total of 18 years advocating for credit unions by yearend. He is the fifth, and apparently last, CEO of NAFCU. Good luck, Dan, on your future endeavors, and I wish Jim Nussle the best with the combined trade association.

At the end of 2000, when Dan took the corner office, 10,316 credit unions existed, according to the NCUA. While some might have argued there weren’t enough credit unions back then to sustain two large, national trade associations for credit unions, now there are 4,759. When more than half of the credit unions merge away – many unnecessarily – it’s time for a fresh cost-benefit analysis of having two national trade groups. We’ve been seeing at the state level for decades.

One might say the CUNA-NAFCU merger was only a matter of time. Given NAFCU’s shift from federal credit unions to federally insured credit unions, it likely tamped down the differences of positions between the two groups, the overhead transfer rate being one of the last remaining vestiges. While the expansion might have helped NAFCU add members, it also was the pathway for an exit strategy.

One issue is that CUNA is in the red with revenue less expenses pegged at ($5.4M) – yeah, in parentheses because it was negative – in 2021; that financial result was much improved over the ($9.8M) in 2020. Yes, those were the pandemic years, yet NAFCU during those same years was in the black to the tune of $776K in 2020 and $1.7M in 2021.

Many in credit union land are touting the merger as bringing one, stronger voice to Washington. Having a unified voice in Washington is critical, and the trade associations collaborated many times to make that happen. Others noted they’d have less dues to pay, and to that I say they never had to pay dues to both. A monopoly is never better.

I predict a group of determined credit union leaders will spin up a new trade association to nip at the ankles of America’s Credit Unions, just as NAFCU did when it was formed precisely because of the different perspectives.