Nutmeg State expands presence in state

Credit union enters New Haven, Fairfield county markets, more locations planned

Credit union opens locations in New Haven, Fairfield counties, with more on the way, officials say.

Having made a statewide name for itself with a series of quirky television commercials, Rocky Hillbased Nutmeg State Financial Credit Union is now setting its sights on the New Haven area and Fairfield County.

The credit union, which employs 94 people, quietly opened its first New Haven County location in the ShopRite supermarket in Orange. That move dovetailed nicely with the year-end 2016 acquisition of Housatonic Teachers Financial Credit Union, opening Nutmeg’s potential customer base to Bridgeport, Stratford and Shelton within Fairfield County.

“The timing of both moves worked out very well,” said John Holt, president and chief executive officer of Nutmeg and the star of its “Banking Awesome” commercials. The commercials use humor to poke fun at financial institutions with more staid banking practices.

Holt said the credit union plans to open a free-standing location in the Milford area during the next 12 months as well as another supermarket branch and a location in southwestern Hartford County in Southington during 2018. Prior to opening the Orange supermarket branch, Nutmeg had two banking offices in WalMart among its 9 branches.

Although the New Haven area already is home to one prominent, well-established credit union in Connex Federal Credit Union, as well as other smaller ones, Holt isn’t intimidated.

“We’re competing with everybody, really,” he said. “Legacy banks, insurance companies that have gotten into banking, technology companies.”

That level of competition helped drive the deal with Housatonic Teachers Financial Credit Union, said John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center, a Hartford-based industry consulting firm.

“With Nutmeg State’s abundant capital, strong profits and an experienced management team, this merger is in keeping with trends in the credit union industry as these institutions continue to exert competitive pressure on community banks by building size, scale and market share,” Carusone said Friday. “Nutmeg State has long been a central Connecticut powerhouse in the credit union niche. With over 40 thousand members, 9 branches and roughly $400 million in assets, it has been a full-fledged competitor to other credit unions as well as community banks around greater Hartford.”

Housatonic Teachers with about 1,500 members and $20 million in assets, he said.

Consolidation has been impacting the banking industry for three decades, but has only picked up speed regarding credit unions in the last few years, Carusone said.

Holt said Nutmeg’s approach to providing its services to members is technology driven. He calls Nutmeg’s target market “the Apple generation.”

“People can come into our branches and use a tablet (computer) to sign up for any one of our products,” he said. “If someone is uncomfortable doing that, we have employees there to help them. The ballgame has changed and we’re just trying to remain relevant.”

Driving customers to use technology lowers Nutmeg’s cost of doing business. But it also allows busy people the flexibility to do their banking when they want to and complete it as quickly as possible, Holt said.