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NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker, speaking yesterday before a Metropolitan Area Credit Union Management Association meeting in Washington, provided a positive outlook for both NAFCU and the credit union industry despite current challenges.

During his remarks, Becker quoted statistics that indicate how well credit unions are stacking up against the banking industry.

He said the rates of delinquencies, charge-offs and bankruptcies are lower among credit unions than at banks. There are 399 problem credit unions. Among banks, on the other hand, there are 844 problem institutions, the NAFCU president noted. In addition, credit unions only saw 16 failures last year while banks had 92. "We had a credit union purchase a bank, and a bank is changing to a credit union charter," Becker told the MACUMA audience.

Becker also said credit unions are "no longer the best kept secret in banking." The Nov. 5 Bank Transfer Day, which was a response to banks' plans to raise fees for basic services, launched the credit union industry in terms of membership and deposit growth, he said. The Bank Transfer Day event also helped pave the way for NAFCU to score a number of media stories, including coverage by CNN and ABC World News, that elevated NAFCU and the credit union industry. The media coverage also led to sharp upticks in visitor traffic to CULookup.com, NAFCU's credit union locator website. An informal survey NAFCU launched following Bank Transfer Day confirms Becker's position.

The NAFCU president also thanked credit unions in attendance for their support of NAFCU. He noted the association's growth in membership in 2011 despite last year's industry mergers. Becker also mentioned that three NAFCU conferences attained record attendance last year.