GreenState Credit Union in Iowa cuts 5% of workforce over rising rates

GreenState Credit Union in North Liberty, Iowa, recently cut about 5% of its workforce, or 42 people.

The $10.7 billion-asset credit union said the affected employees worked primarily in commercial banking and mortgage lending-related positions.

Robyn Aaron

"The rapid rate increases we are seeing has obviously dried up the refinance business," Jim Kelly, GreenState's chief marketing officer, told American Banker in an email.

Those affected have been given a severance package, as well as extended insurance coverage. Kelly said some of the positions could be brought back in the event of a refinance boom, "but there are no signs of that in the coming months, maybe years," he said.

Kelly said the move had nothing to do with the credit union's recent termination of its deal to buy a bank in Nebraska. The credit union in August announced that it had called off its deal to acquire Premier Bank over regulatory pushback. 

GreenState earned $78.3 million in the first six months of 2022, a 13% decrease from a year earlier, according to call report data from the National Credit Union Administration.