FORT BRAGG, N.C.–The CEO of $261-million Fort Bragg FCU has three words for Navy FCU as the world’s largest credit union expands to serve all members of the military: “bring it on!”
“Look, we already had the third largest complete overlap in the history of credit unions with Pentagon. Plus, we already complete with the second largest credit union, State Employees Credit Union, so bring it on,” said David Elliott. “I think we have developed a pretty good niche and provided excellent service to that niche. I don’t think, in our circumstances, [that Navy’s FOM expansion] makes it harder for us to cooperate, but I’m sure some people will feel that way. At this time, they don’t have a presence locally, and we do, and we will work that niche. If you’re serving members well, they will stay with you. Find what you do better than Navy and then get that message out.”
SAN ANTONIO–Air Force FCU CEO Robert Glenn can’t blame Navy for wanting to expand its FOM–after all, the former Lackland FCU sort of did the same thing not too long ago.
“We had focused too much on being a one-base operation. The way we had been interpreting our field of membership was more narrow in our heads than it was in our charter. We can serve anyone who has access to Lackland, and that includes members of all branches of the military, active or retired,” the $319-million CU’s CEO explained. “We changed our interpretation when we changed our name in 2004.”
That’s not to say it’s “no big deal” when Navy comes to town–as it already has in San Antonio. “I always have more concern when we have more competition,” Glenn said. “But they can’t take away our members if our members are satisfied with our service. If you concentrate on taking care of your members, your members will take care of you.”
Navy’s edge, he said, is in its large branch network. “Where Navy has it over me is it has more locations, and it has been at it a little bit longer,” Glenn conceded. “But I found it very interesting that when they opened a new branch in San Antonio, they didn’t go for the underserved, they went to the most affluent ZIP code in town.”
