FAYETTESVILLE, N.C.- When Steve Foley took the reins at Bragg Mutual FCU, what was then a $55-million credit union faced an uncertain future. Four years later, Bragg Mutual has more than doubled its assets, achieved 20%+ annual loan growth, and earned national recognition.
“We needed to reorganize how we did business, and we needed to keep it logical,” Foley said.
Over his four years with Bragg Mutual, the credit union made significant changes by focusing on growing the auto and real estate portfolio, increasing training to improve member service, introducing cross-selling, and diversifying its product and service offerings.
As a result, Bragg Mutual has grown to $110 million in assets and averaged in excess of 20% annual loan growth. The credit union’s current ROA stands at 1.01%, double its peer average.
‘Fantastic Numbers’
“We’ve positioned ourselves for growth and that’s where we’re seeing fantastic numbers,” said Foley, who in 2022 was named NAFCU’s CEO of the Year for credit unions with less than $250 million in assets. “My best advice as a CEO is to know where you want to go and examine whether you have the right people to get you there.”
As part of Bragg Mutual’s reorganization the credit union also selected Your Marketing Co. to handle marketing, after previously having a piecemeal arrangement with a different agency. Foley credited the firm for taking the time to understand not just credit unions, but also “the time to understand an individual credit union’s situation…”
Deciding to Move Forward
A big part of Bragg Mutual’s success was deciding which way it wanted to go.
“A lot of smaller credit unions are merging away,” Foley said. “We had to decide: Did we want to maintain the status quo, or did we want to move forward?” Forward, the board decided.
When Foley came to Bragg Mutual, payday loan alternatives were the credit union’s bread and butter. However, the credit union could not scale and grow on small loan products and relationships. BMCU had experienced rapid loan growth, but that growth plan was flawed due to the lack of lending experience in the senior management levels, it reported.
Personnel changes were made, and Foley was hired several months later. He then began reorganizing management with a focus on taking the credit union back to basics to meet members’ banking needs.
