Beehive Is Latest Utah Failure Gobbled Up By Out-Of-State CU Giant

SALT LAKE CITY-NCUA and state regulators last week shuttered Beehive CU and assigned the assets of the one-time $200-million credit union failure to Security Service FCU, the $6-billion San Antonio-based credit union, the latest Utah failure to be go to an out-of-state credit union.

Beehive had been operating with negative capital since at least Sept. 30, when it reported a $5.8-million loss for the first three quarters of the year and the elimination of all of its net worth.

Beehive follows last year's failures of Southwest Community FCU and HeritageWest FCU, both acquired by Virginia's Chartway FCU, and the federal takeover of Family First FCU, a one-time $175-million Orem credit union.

Security Service is among a handful of well-capitalized large credit unions that are entering new markets by acquiring failed credit unions, having acquired Colorado's Norbel Community Credit Union earlier this year, and Horizon Credit Union in Texas in 2008.

Beehive had applied in 2007 to convert to a mutual savings bank but banking regulators rejected its application as the credit union's losses continued to mount.

Security Service currently is continuing to use the Beehive name in Utah, as noted by the Beehive logo at www.behivecredit.com, which includes a tagline that reads "A division of Security Service Federal Credit Union." The site also includes a message welcoming Beehive members as members of Security Service.

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