#1 State for Shared Branching? You’ll be surprised…

With one shared branch for every 19,371 residents*, Maine leads the United States in shared branching population per location (PPL). Only one other state, Utah, had a PPL under 30,000 (23,205).

Maine has an excellent history of credit union participation, with a statewide member penetration rate of about 50%, well above the national average. With 80 shared branch locations throughout Maine, the 28 participating credit unions have more locations statewide than any bank. In fact, Maine’s largest 16 cities and towns, including every town with a population of 12,000 or greater, has at least one shared branch.

And when it comes to shared branching, Maine is #1 with a bullet. The concept of shared branching has been around since the 1970’s, and widely available since the 1990’s. The Maine Credit Union Shared Branch Network (MCUSBN), however, will celebrate its four year anniversary this month!

While politics, location, and population are only a few factors to take into consideration when it comes to growing a shared branch network, Maine’s credit unions, and their members, are enjoying the benefits of MCUSBN’s efforts in making Maine the #1 shared branching state in the country.

*Per the CUServiceCenter.com website, Maine had 68 shared branches on April 13, 2008. However, at MaineCreditUnions.org, 80 locations were listed, or one location for every 16,465 residents. A request sent to CUServiceCenter.com to address the discrepancy had not been answered at the time of posting. Population statistics were taken from the July 2007 Census Bureau estimates.

CU News Briefs 4/12/08-4/14/08

By Christian Mullins

Executive Summary:

• In a move expected by credit unions and eagerly awaited by banks, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a bill that will restrict the growth of state chartered credit unions. The bill was prompted by a 2006 legislative audit. We’ll devote an entire blog to this subject Tuesday.

• Nine days after representatives from across the financial institution industry, including Credit Union National Association (CUNA), testified before Congress that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) unfairly placed the burden of regulating and reporting illegal gambling transactions on financial institutions, legislature was introduced that would prohibit the Treasury Department or Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulations related to UIGEA.

Robbed:

• Nothing to report today.

Arrested, Arraigned, Charged, or Sentenced:

• Richard Ferry, of Bristol, Connecticut, will serve no more than eight years in prison for the robberies of more than a dozen banks, including Corporate America Family CU in 2006. The funds were used to supply a heroin addiction.
• Four men received prison sentences ranging from 12 years to life in connection with the August 2005 robbery of University FCU in Galveston, Texas. Two of the four also pleaded guilty to the July 2005 robbery of Coastal Community FCU. After the robbery, their getaway vehicle stalled. An acquaintance of one of the robbers recognized him and gave three of them a ride. He was shot the following month for “knowing too much” about the robbery.