During the first quarter of the year, the NCUA approved 54mergers across 30 states, a significantly higher number than the 41mergers approved in Q1 2015.

What's more, the NCUA's final number of completed mergers in2015 totaled 235. That tally was considerably lower than the 257completed mergers in 2014, the 254 completed consolidations in2013, and the 277 completed consolidations in 2012. In 2011, therewere 238 completed mergers and in 2010, 197 consolidations wereconsummated.

Last year, Illinois and Michigan posted the highest number ofcompleted mergers at 18 apiece, followed by California (16), Texas(14), Georgia (11), Pennsylvania (11), Wisconsin (11), Iowa (10)and Ohio (10).

Glenn Christensen, president of the CEO Advisory Group in Kent,Wash., which provides credit union advisory services, said heanticipates the number of mergers to stay within the range of 200to 250 in 2016. Even though the pool of credit unions continues toshrink, he sees more credit unions leveraging a consolidationstrategy for future growth.

While most of the credit unions consolidated out of existence inthis year's first quarter had fewer than $50 million in assets, twolarger-asset credit unions were merged for expanded services andone for poor financial condition. Additionally, one credit unionwith more than $190 million in assets had three mergers approved bythe NCUA in the first quarter – an uncommon occurrence.

Pennsylvania posted the most mergers with five, followed byCalifornia, Ohio and Michigan with four each. Illinois and Texaseach had two consolidations in the first quarter.

Beyond the first quarter merger numbers, nine credit unionspublicly announced new consolidation agreements in April and May,including two credit unions that are planning to merge into a largeCalifornia cooperative. (Click on image to expand credit unionmerger map.)

In May, both the $20.3 million Eagle Credit Union in Lodi,Calif., and the $5.1 million San Francisco Municipal RailwayEmployees Federal Credit Union in San Francisco announced plans tomerge with the $2.2 UNIFY Financial Federal Credit Union, formerlyWestern Federal Credit Union, in Torrance, Calif.

Also in May, the $43.1 million Ryder System Federal Credit Unionin Medley, Fla., said it planned to consolidate with the $574million Power Financial Credit Union in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

In April, the $46.4 million Oak Trust Credit Union inPlainfield, Ill., said it planned to consolidate with the $116million NorthStar Credit Union in Warrensville, Ill., and the $54million Freedom Credit Union in Rocky Mount, N.C., said it intendsto merge with the $2.6 billion Coastal Federal Credit Union inRaleigh, N.C.

The largest strategic merger approved by the NCUA in the firstquarter was the $324 million, Woodbridge, Va.-based Belvoir FederalCredit Union's merger into the $19.9 billion Pentagon FederalCredit Union in Alexandria, Va.

The consolidation, completed May 1, will bring PenFed closer to$20 billion in assets, making it the third credit union in thenation to reach that milestone. The Vienna, Va.-based Navy FederalCredit Union is No. 1 with $75.1 billion in assets and SECU ofRaleigh, N.C., is second with $33.3 billion in assets.

The second largest consolidation approved by the federal agencywas the $224 million Community Financial Credit Union inBroomfield, Colo.'s merger into the $602 million Warren FederalCredit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo.

The combined cooperatives were renamed Blue Federal CreditUnion. The institution now has assets of more than $840 million and72,332 members in the southern Wyoming and northern Coloradomarketplaces.

Stephanie Teubner is CEO of Blue and Greg Hill, formerpresident/CEO of Community Financial, is president of Blue.

The newly merged credit union expects to open its newheadquarters in Colorado before 2018.

The third largest credit union merger approved by the NCUAinvolved the conserved $162 million Montauk Credit Union. The NewYork City-based cooperative was placed into conservatorship becauseof its financially troubled taxi medallion loan portfolio and wasmerged into the $6.2 billion Bethpage Federal Credit Union inBethpage, N.Y.

Christensen predicted merger deals among credit unions withassets of more than $100 million will gradually increase over thenext few years to capitalize on the advantages of scale incompetitive markets.

“Overall, I think consolidations represent a strategic shift andcredit unions are more and more seriously investing in mergers as aprimary strategy for expansion,” he said. “I think there are morecredit unions that have put into place some very aggressive mergerstrategies.”

For example, the $191 million Cardinal Credit Union in Mentor,Ohio, a suburban city on the east side of Cleveland, had threemergers approved by the NCUA in this year's first quarter.

The three credit unions that will consolidate into Cardinal thissummer are the $37.3 million Edison Financial Credit Union inAustintown, Ohio, the $17.9 million Erie Shores Community creditunion in Westlake, Ohio and the $3.2 million Youngstown Ohio CityEmployee Credit Union in Youngstown, Ohio.

In addition to its acquisition of these three cooperatives,Cardinal sealed two other merger deals, bringing its totalconsolidations to five since 2010, when Christine Blake wasappointed CEO.

“In 2010, our credit union was about $150 million in assets, andby July 30, when we complete these three mergers we will be atabout $250 million in assets,” Blake said.

Blake also noted the credit union has had a good share ofinternal growth, driven by Cardinal's marketing campaigns and itsbranches at two high schools and two colleges.

Although most mergers were approved by the NCUA for expandedservices, 11 credit unions, or 20% of consolidations, weregreen-lighted in the first quarter because the cooperatives were inpoor financial condition.

All but two of the financially struggling credit unions that hadless than $50 million in assets included the $1 million 1st SelectFederal Credit Union in Hopkinsville, Ky., into the $42.9 millionVeritas Federal Credit Union in Franklin; the $546,760 CerrobrassCredit Union in Sauget, Ill., into the $10.6 millionProcessors-Industrial Community Credit Union in Granite City; the$2.2 million Electrical Workers Credit Union in Collinsville, Ill.,into the $317 million GCS Credit Union in Granite City; the $15.8million Cornerstone Credit Union in Caldwell, Idaho into the $402million Pioneer Credit Union in Mountain Home, Idaho and the $68.5million Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union in Clarkston,Mich., into the $3.2 billion Michigan State University FederalCredit Union in East Lansing, Mich.

Additional credit unions that were forced to consolidate becauseof poor financial condition included the $162 million MontaukCredit Union in New York City into the $6.6 billion BethpageFederal Credit Union in Bethpage; the $3.2 million Monroe CreditUnion in Monroe, La., into the $268 million Pelican State CreditUnion in Baton Rouge, La.; the $15.2 million Greater PiedmontCredit Union in Durham, N.C., into the $737 million Self-HelpCredit Union in Durham; the $3 million Panhandle Cooperative CreditUnion in Scottsbluff, Neb., into the $315 million Meridian TrustCredit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo.; the $627,281 Faith Based CreditUnion in Oceanside, Calif., into the $747 million Pacific MarineCredit Union in Oceanside and the $17.1 million Puget Sound CreditUnion in Seattle into the $422 million Qualstar Credit Union inBellevue, Wash.