21 THE NAFCU JOURNAL JULY–AUGUST 2022 It may not have made sense to many people to hear that a credit union was opening a new branch or acquiring new locations in the midst of a pandemic, due to limited services at branch offices and increased reliance on technology for a wide range of transactions. However, expand is what many credit unions did. According to data from the National Credit Union Administration, in September 2020, 745 credit unions had plans to add branches or expand facilities. One of these credit unions was Mountain America Credit Union. Founded in the 1930s, Mountain America started with one location in Utah. Now, in 2022, the 102nd branch opened recently, and the credit union has branches in six states— Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. “We never put expansion plans on hold,” said Sterling Nielsen, president and CEO of Mountain America Credit Union. “Construction shortages slowed some our renovations and construction but they did not stop us.” The growth of Mountain America has been a mixture of mergers and new construction to add branches where needed in new markets. “Mergers provide a base of membership that we can grow by providing services that members in the market need,” explained Nielsen. “In Idaho, mergers with three different credit unions provided an established membership, then we expanded after we identified a need for more locations to serve members.” The credit union has found that overlapping branch service areas by building branches within three to five miles of each other provides multiple touchpoints for members, which increases the opportunity to conduct business in-person. However, staffing for some services may not be full-time. For example, each branch may not have a dedicated investment advisor or loan officer but will have them in the branch on certain days or by appointment. Limitations of in-person branch services at all credit unions during the pandemic increased the adoption of technology by members, but Mountain America knows
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