BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Credit unions that once had or still maintain strong connections to employer groups and retained a core of loyal members have best weathered the economic storm with their images intact according to Bancography's annual brand report.
"In the times we are in now people are becoming dissatisfied with their banks, and to some extent their credit unions. The whole industry has taken some negative publicity and that affected a lot of people," said Bancography branding services chief John Mathes. "A lot of the good brand performers this year were institutions that have former SEG bases before they became community chartered. That helped their stability — there was not a lot of flight from their members at those types of institutions."
The Bancography Brand Value Index calculates financial institutions' brand value by subtracting their tangible book values and franchise values from their overall market value. Mountain America CU topped the branding list for credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets last year, but the Utah-based institution fell all the way out of the top 10 in this year's list. Police & Fire FCU, based in Philadelphia, moved up from fifth to first to take the top spot.
Other credit unions with strong SEG connections rounded out the top four with Chevron FCU, Tinker FCU and JSC FCU slotting second, third and fourth respectively. Other big CUs without employer connections fell precipitously this year as Arrowhead Central CU, MidFlorida FCU, and Onpoint Community CU all slid out of the top ten.
The pattern held true for credit union with less than $1 billion in assets as well — the top three credit union brands from 2008, ASI FCU, Trona Valley Community CU and First Community CU of Houston, all fell out of the top ten. White Sands FCU, which has long-standing connection to the Las Cruces hospital as well as the city's volunteer firefighters, jumped from fourth on last year's list to first in 2009.
Mathes noted that the brands of some smaller financial institutions, especially in the sand states, might be suffering because of service and branch reductions that have been necessitated by bad economic conditions. Those CUs that have slipped or others that are simply looking to build a more solid brand must make it a priority and work hard to differentiate themselves from the competition, said Mathes.
"They have to find those nuggets of difference, wherever they lie, and exploit them."
The branding strategy head explained that financial services marketing has become "more of a conversation and less of a monologue," suggesting that credit unions work to build that dialogue through conventional as well as new channels, such as social networking websites.
