The U.S. Census Bureau reports that credit unions hold only 6% of assets among U.S.-based depository institutions. So, the industry has plenty of competition; 94% of the market belongs to the competition.
Why would we create competition within our industry to further fragment the 6% market share we have today? It does not seem logical to fight over who will get what piece of the 6% pie when there’s 94% of the market to go after. We just have to figure out how to get the 94%. Maybe we are sitting on top of the model but have not fully realized its potential: cooperation as a business model.
In these trying economic times, consumers are gravitating to their roots, which is in turn, taking our industry back to its roots. We are seeing phenomenal growth in auto loans. According to Callahan & Associates, at the beginning of 2008, we had 12.9% market share of auto loans. By January 2009, it jumped to a 22.7% market share.
Through the efforts of the National Cooperative Business Association, we have evidence the cooperative model works and is increasing in popularity, but are we using it to its maximum potential
Go to http://www.cutimes.com/Issues/2009/October-14-2009/Pages/Is-There-a-Business-Case-for-a-Single-National-CUSO.aspx?k=Is+There+a+Business+Case+for+a+Single%2c+National+CUSO%3f to read the entire article.
