Credit union growth in the Tenth Federal Reserve District : how legal and regulatory changes have affected credit union expansion

In the Tenth Federal Reserve District, banks have reported increasing concern regarding deposit competition from credit unions. In our 2004 Survey of Community Banks, we asked banks to rate competition from a variety of sources. Bankers said they anticipate intense competition from several sources in the coming years. Foremost is competition from other community banks. However, almost half of all community banks that responded said they expect very intense or intense deposit competition from credit unions in the next five years. What factors lead bankers to believe that competition from credit unions is increasing? This article seeks to address this question by describing the credit union industry and the historical basis for legal and regulatory differences between banking and credit union supervision and regulation, as well as recent legal and regulatory changes that may have increased competition between credit unions and banks. The article will show how these changes are affecting credit unions located in the Tenth District states