NCUA today, citing the “spirit of fostering greater financial inclusion for all Americans,” issued its annual report to Congress detailing the financial condition of minority credit unions in 2019 and the agency’s efforts to preserve and promote the formation of minority depository institutions.

“As the nation celebrates this year’s Juneteenth, we must recommit ourselves to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are necessary to foster and promote greater opportunity for all Americans,” NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood said. “As we reflect on the enormous significance of this day and what it represents, it should also remind us how much further we must go.

The 2019 Annual Report to Congress on Preserving Minority Depository Institutions indicates that, at the end of 2019, the NCUA regulated 514 federally insured credit unions with the MDI designation in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A federally insured credit union can qualify as an MDI if 50 percent or more of its current members, eligible potential members, and board members are minorities, according to NCUA.

MDI credit unions served more than 3.9 million members and had assets of $40.5 billion last year, and are often the only federally insured financial institutions available in rural and urban communities that have been historically unserved by traditional financial institutions, according to the report.