- Key insight: Despite what was in many ways a tumultuous year, credit unions added members, loans and deposits according to the NCUA’s most recent quarterly statistics.
- Expert quote: Former NCUA Chairman Todd Harper characterized his firing by President Trump as “a violation of “the bipartisan statutory framework adopted by Congress to protect credit union members and their deposits.”
- Supporting data: NCUA reported 121 mergers among credit unions through the first nine months of 2025, level with 2024’s results through September.
A tumultuous 2025 for credit unions was highlighted by disarray at the industry’s governing body and banks’ renewed attack on the sector’s income-tax exemption.
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Credit unions fared well financially despite all that, reaching new record levels of assets, deposits, loans and members at the end of the third quarter. But like banks, credit unions continued to grapple with consolidation, as the number of mergers far outstripped the formation of de novo institutions. The National Credit Union Administration reported 4,331 federally insured credit unions as of Sept. 30, down more than 900 from the same time in 2019.
Here’s a look at five major issues that impacted credit unions in 2025.
Consolidation mirrors the 2024 trend
Credit unions merged with each other at the same pace in 2025 that they did the previous year, with 121 deals involving credit unions reported through the first three quarters of both years, according to National Credit Union Administration statistics. The assets involved in the deals were largely similar, too, totaling $11.7 billion in 2025 and $11.9 billion through the first nine months of 2024.
While most credit union mergers in 2025 fell on the small side, there were also some blockbusters.
The $9.9 billion-asset ENT Credit Union in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the $9.7 billion-asset Wings Credit Union in Apple Valley, Minnesota, announced a merger of equals in April that’s scheduled to close on Jan. 1. The merged institution will operate under the Wings brand.
Meanwhile, in September, the $3.4 billion-asset Unify Financial Credit Union in Allen, Texas, announced plans to merge with the $5.3 billion-asset CommunityAmerica Credit Union in Lenexa, Kansas. That deal, which closed in November, created a $9 billion-asset institution.
Bank deals remain a flashpoint
The pace of bank acquisitions by credit unions remained strong in 2025, though not quite as robust as in 2024. Credit unions have announced deals for 16 banks in 2025,
Attorney Michael Bell, a partner at Honigman LLP and a leading advisor of credit unions seeking to acquire banks, has predicted another active year in 2026, even as bank industry trade groups continue to cry foul.
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Read More: 5 trends that shaped the credit union industry in 2025
