Factors Contributing to Failures of Credit Unions and Banks, 1980–2018

Why do depository institutions fail? Do credit unions and banks fail at the same rate? What if there was a predictive tool to help prevent institutions from closing their doors?

Luis Dopico

Economist

Jim Wilcox

Filene Advisor

Report Number 490

From the Center for

Performance and Operational Excellence

Executive Summary

This report modeled nearly 40 years of data to identify the key factors most closely associated with failures, why credit unions outperformed banks in this area, and what we can learn to prevent future failures. We review credit unions and banks across asset size ranges and time periods to identify lessons learned and potential predictive tools.