By Victor Abad and Adam Elboim
Through a unique partnership of the grassroots organization El Centro Hispano, the NC State Employees’ Credit Union, Self-Help Credit Union and the NC Minority Support Center, the Latino Community Credit Union was chartered in February 2000 by the state of North Carolina. With the goal of providing affordable, accessible, and fair financial services to the Latino population of North Carolina, LCCU opened its doors on June 26, 2000 in downtown Durham. By December 2003, LCCU had 5 branches serving close to 15,000 members around the state, making it the fastest growing credit union in the country. At the time of the case, LCCU has been offered funds to expand to Winston-Salem, the only one of the six largest cities where it did not have a presence. LCCU’s leaders must wrestle with the decision to open a new branch there, shift their attention to the vastly underserved rural populations, or slow their geographic growth and focus on improving existing operations, building their product line, and achieving financial sustainability.)
CASE , the Fuqua School of Business, CASE SE-02, 2004