YUMA, Ariz. — AEA FCU, placed into conservatorship by NCUA in 2010, improved its financial performance in 2013, finishing the year with a net income of $5.23 million.
According to a release from NCUA, the $234 million credit union increased its year-end net income by $2.08 million from 2012 to 2013, a 66% uptick. Assets rose by $3 million, and net worth ratio improved by 70 basis points, year-over-year, ending the fourth quarter of 2013 still well below the "well-capitalized" mark of 7% but at a much-improved 4.72%.
Elizabeth Whitehead, NCUA's Region V director and agent for the conservator, said that the agency has seen AEA make progress in several areas, resulting in a positive 2013.
"Having previously reduced the expense structure, streamlined operations and introduced new products and services, we continued the process of returning AEA to the core credit union business model through the introduction of member-centric sales-through-service culture," she said in a statement.
AEA entered conservatorship in December 2010 following problems stemming from its member business lending. Robert Liddle, the CU's former chief of business lending, was sentenced in 2012 to 15 years behind bars for approving more than $60 million in fraudulent loans in exchange for more than $1 million in kickbacks and bribes. The CU lost more than $38 million as a result, and Liddle was convicted on charges of bank fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
NCUA issued a prohibition order against Liddle last January.
