ALEXANDRIA, Va. NCUA announced yesterday it has granted a charter to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Native Americans in Minnesota--the first new credit union approved this year--which is shaping up as the leanest year for new charters ever.
Northern Eagle FCU will serve 4,900 people the Native American tribe, along with employees of related select occupational groups and is the second credit union chartered to serve Native Americans in the last 12 months. Last year NCUA chartered Lakota FCU to serve members of the Lakota (Sioux) Tribe in South Dakota.
The chartering of new CUs has all but dried up with small and thinly capitalized institutions dying by the dozens either by merger or liquidation. There were only three new credit unions chartered in 2012, the fewest in 100 years.
