CUs See New Competitors Beckon

- ARLINGTON, Va. (03/28/02) - Mutual funds andfinance companies are rapidly surpassing banks as credit unions'biggest competitors, according to a new survey issued by NAFCU. Thesurvey, titled 'The Future of Credit Unions,' found that many morecredit union respondents, 45.6%, see mutual funds as their majorcompetitors for savings, while only 31.9% see banks as the majorcompetition. Another 17.3% see other credit unions as their maincompetition for savings and 4.9% cited S&Ls. Banks remain asthe top competitors for loans, but only by a 39.2% to 36.7% marginover finance companies. Another 15.2% of respondents see othercredit unions as their chief competition for loans. The survey alsofound overwhelming support for NCUA's new risk-based approach, with96.3% of respondents favoring NCUA's risk-based examinationproposals and unanimous support for NCUA's extended examinationcycle. Respondents also overwhelmingly rejected, by a 72.5% to27.5% margin, the supposition that a doubling of insurance coverageon retirement accounts will increase their retirementsavings.