2010 Brand Rankings for Credit Unions

Bancography, a financial services consulting firm, released its 2010 rankings for its Bancography Brand Value Index (BBVI), a quantitative ranking of the brand strength of all US banks and credit unions. The firm developed the system so that it could assist financial institutions with evaluating the strength of their brands. The index calculates the value of an institution’s brand and ranks that institution comparatively among its peers.

In the large credit union asset tier, only six of 2009’s top 25 retained their top-25 status in 2010. This shows a noticeable difference from 2009’s index, where 14 institutions repeated their top-25 performance and reflects the volatility in both the industry and the broader economy. In the large credit union tier, only Chevron and JSC (TX) return to the top 10; while 2009’s top ranked Police and Fire (PA) placed 11th in 2010. Six Texas-based credit unions, four Wisconsin-based institutions and three Pennsylvania organizations combine to occupy more than half of the top 25 slots. Notably, these three states have also remained near immune to bank failures over the past three years.

Twelve institutions returned to the top 25 in the smaller asset tier ($100M – $1B) including Navy Army, White Sands, Complex Community (TX), Golden Plains (KS) and Red Crown (OK). Notable newcomers to the list include Gwinnett Credit Union (GA), Mennonite Financial (PA), AmeriCU (NY), Idaho Central Credit Union and University First Credit Union (UT), with all but Gwinnett representing areas of the country that have survived the financial crisis relatively unscathed. Despite its sizable population base, not a single Florida-based credit union reached the top 25 in either tier, confirming the degree to which the recession has impacted that state’s financial institutions.

Do you want to know where your credit union ranks? Easy. Just contact Bancography. “We will supply at no cost any institution’s ranking if they contact us,” promises Mathes.

“But to make the rankings relevant as to how well an institution is doing in any given market, they would need to know their competitors’ index,” continues Mathes. “So we sell a product called ‘Market Snapshot’ that supplies all community bank and credit union rankings by DMA. The Snapshot also contains helpful observations and insights from that DMA.”

Credit Unions: More than $1 billion in assets (161 total)

2010 Rank			2009 Rank
1	Austin Telco	TX	21*
2	Chevron	CA	2
3	EECU	TX	18*
4	Mountain America	UT	122
5	Local Government	NC	234*
6	University	TX	49
7	JSC	TX	4
8	University of Wisconsin	WI	31
9	State Employees	NC	13
10	Landmark	WI	18
11	Police & Fire	PA	1
12	Members 1st	PA	57
13	Lake Michigan	MI	9
14	GECU	TX	48
15	MECU	MD	647*
16	TruMark Financial	PA	11
17	Educational Employees	CA	120
18	HawaiiUSA	HI	96
19	Community First	WI	8
20	Security Service	TX	32
21	Tinker	OK	3
22	State Employees	NY	65
23	Educators	WI	63
24	San Diego County	CA	47
25	Sandia Laboratory	NM	82
	*moved up from <$1B asset tier

Credit Unions: Less than $1 billion in assets (161 total)

2010 Rank			2009 Rank
1	InTouch	TX	122
2	Navy Army	TX	9
3	First Community	TX	22
4	Gwinnett	GA	313
5	Complex Community	TX	5
6	White Sands	NM	1
7	Mennonite Financial	PA	n/a
8	ILWU	CA	17
9	America’s Credit Union	WA	25
10	Americu	NY	153
11	Aerospace	CA	76
12	Idaho Central	ID	163
13	University First	UT	461
14	Actors	NY	20
15	Southeastern	GA	55
16	Pelican State	LA	10
17	State Employees	NM	79
18	Red Crown	OK	6
19	Golden Plains	KS	4
20	Sound	WA	126
21	ACIPCO	AL	373
22	Trona Valley Community	WY	14
23	University of Hawaii	HI	125
24	SeaComm	NY	11
25	Heritage Family	VT	29