Southland credit unions see assets rise despite national dip in growth.

Hughes Aircraft Employees Federal Credit Union, which hiked its assets by 7.2 percent last year, again tops The List (see opposite page) of the largest credit unions in L.A. County.

Manhattan Beach-based Hughes, with 143,173 members, reported $1.4 billion of assets at year-end 1993. It had 140,029 members and $1.2 billion in assets a year before.

Overall, the 25 largest credit unions of L.A. County boasted combined assets of $8.7 billion at year-end 1993, up 3.9 percent from $8.3 billion a year earlier.

George Poitou, vice president of research and information for the Pomona-based California Credit Union League, said 1993 was the slowest growth year for credit unions nationwide in the last seven years.

Last year, credit unions nationwide boosted their assets by about 6 percent, compared with average annual asset growth of 11 percent for the prior six years, he said.

Poitou blamed low interest rates for the slower growth "anomaly." Many would-be credit union depositors opted to stash their money in mutual funds, he said.

Sluggish credit union deposits hampered the growth of assets because credit unions take deposit dollars and either lend them out or put them in securities, thereby creating assets, Poitou explained.

Based on early figures, it appears credit unions nationwide will enjoy about a 10 percent increase in assets this year, according to Poitou.

Deposits are rising with interest rates and also because stock values declined earlier this year, he said. That decrease, which Poitou calls "a hiccup," caused "a little bit of fear in the mutual fund market," he said.

Mutual fund investors are now putting money back into credit unions, Poitou said.

Despite lower than average growth at credit unions nationwide, 22 of the 25 biggest credit unions in L.A. County reported asset growth in 1993, according to The List, while three decreased in assets.

TRW Systems Federal Credit Union, No. 13 on The List, reported a 8.5 percent decline in assets as it lost about 2,000 of its 41,000 members.

"There has been downsizing in the aerospace industry and some people have moved on," said John Bommarito, chief executive officer of the Redondo Beach-based credit union. "I think we're going to get back on the growth track this year."

Other credit unions which shrank in asset size were No. 23-ranked American Baptist Federal Credit Union and No. 18-ranked Northrup Employees Federal Credit Union.

Six credit unions, including No. 1-ranked Hughes, posted better than the 6 percent national average growth. No. 12-ranked Xerox Federal Credit Union reported the highest asset growth last year -- 14 percent.

The Los Angeles Police Credit Union (No. 14) boosted assets 2.9 percent, according to The List. That credit union, which serves the employees of the Los Angeles Police Department, has begun opening automated teller machines this year in police stations for the general public to use, said Karen Ron, director of marketing for the Van Nuys-based credit union. The credit union considers the move low risk because its members will use the police station ATMs even if the general public doesn't, she said.

Newcomers to The List include No. 20-ranked Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union and No. 24-ranked Kaiser Permanente Federal Credit Union.

Kay Hoveland, president and chief executive officer of the Kaiser credit union, said it hiked assets 9 percent last year through aggressive marketing. For the previous three years, it had stopped marketing because management wanted to halt growth in the face of the Southern California recession and the potential for bad loans, Hoveland explained.

But now, after building up its capital base, the Kaiser credit union is ready to grow again, Hoveland said. "We expect to double our size in the next five years," she said.