WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -
Credit unions haven’t come a long way, baby.
With the U.S. marking Martin Luther King Day this week, the Credit Union Journal has revisited an issue this newspaper first explored in 2000–does the diversity of its national leadership reflect the diversity of the population in general. Although credit unions frequently discuss serving more diverse groups, the answer remains similar to that found in 2000–for credit unions, there remains a long way to go.
Back in 2000, Credit Union Journal published a series of stories that explored diversity–or more rightly put, the lack thereof–of the credit union movement. Eight years later, it seemed it was time to revisit this important issue, and while some small progress has been made, there’s still a long way to go, as the movement’s national leadership, the movers and shakers and decision-makers, still tend to be overwhelmingly white males.
For the purposes of this study, national leadership roles were defined as those serving on one of the following: the boards of CUNA, NAFCU, CUES and WOCCU; the NASCUS supervisory board and the NASCUS CU Advisory Council board; the NCUA Board and its regional directors and the state league CEOs.
The statistics speak for themselves:
* While CUNA statistics show 9% of credit union members are African-American, only 3% of the national leadership is comprised of African-Americans.
* According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S., and CUNA statistics show 11% of credit union members are Hispanic. Of credit union leadership, however, Hispanics make up just 1%.
* Asians were lumped into a category called “other” in the CUNA statistics, a category that comprises about 7% of credit union members. Asians make up 3% of credit union leadership, though that number is slightly skewed by the fact that one of those Asians serves on two different boards and was therefore counted twice.
* Whites still make up the majority of the U.S. population, CU membership and leadership across the board, but membership is actually slightly more diverse than the general population, with whites making up 73% of CU members compared to 82% of the general population. But that increased diversity in CU membership isn’t reflected in the credit union leadership, 93% of which is white.
Just how do those numbers stack up against the analysis done by the Credit Union Journal in 2000? Women made the biggest inroads into CU leadership. In 2000, women made up just 19% of CU leaders, compared to 26% today.
Today, there are four African-Americans in national leadership positions. In 2000, there were five. Hispanics held steady at two. There was one Asian among all the national CU leaders in 2000; today there are three (though the numbers show four because one serves in two different roles,).
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and at a time when credit unions are struggling to grow and are increasingly trying to appeal to “New Americans” and other largely untapped groups, Credit Union Journal is asking the question: is it important for credit union leadership to reflect its membership?
