Bethpage Federal Credit Union is getting a new name in a rebranding of the Long Island-based institution, whose roots date back more than 80 years.

The rebrand, including the name change to FourLeaf Federal Credit Union, as well as a new logo and color scheme, will take effect in the first quarter of 2025, the credit union said.

“As we navigate an ever-evolving landscape, we recognize the importance of adapting to meet the changing needs of our members and our markets and exploring new ways to grow and expand,” Linda Armyn, president and chief executive of the credit union, said in a statement Wednesday.

Bethpage Federal Credit Union got its start in 1941, when it was Grumman Plant 1 and 2 Federal Credit Union, initially serving 114 Grumman employees.

Now the largest credit union in the Northeast, Bethpage has more than 480,000 members, $13.4 billion in total assets and 36 branches, most of which are on Long Island.

The credit union is changing its name after receiving feedback from members, employees and others inside and outside New York, Armyn told Newsday in an interview Thursday.

“We do brand studies every year, and we’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years saying that, you know, the Bethpage name is just relative to Long Island. And we do business beyond Long Island,” said Armyn, who added that many people outside the New York metro area associate the Bethpage name with the golf course, not the financial institution.

The credit union does business in all 50 states, she said. Its digital lending program makes loans nationwide, predominantly real estate and auto loans.

 The financial institution’s 36 branches include four that opened in the last year, including its first outside New York state — a branch in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The three other new branches are in Sunnyside, Queens; Ozone Park, Queens; and on Long Island, at the new Station Yards community in Ronkonkoma. Three more Queens branches will open next year in Forest Hills, Bayside and Jackson Heights.

Bethpage Federal Credit Union employs 864 people, 91% of whom are in New York.

The name change also aligns with the financial institution’s plans to grow its number of branches outside New York state, Armyn said.

Manhattan-based marketing agency StrawberryFrog came up with 300 possible new names for the credit union, and FourLeaf received the most positive responses in marketing tests, she said.

“People liked it and it resonated more. It felt hopeful. It was about prosperity, about future. You know, four-leaf clovers tend to be rare, right? … Although we’re not leaning into four-leaf clovers,” she said.

The FourLeaf logo is two intertwined infinity symbols.

As for the credit union’s colors, the currently used orange will remain but the teal is being replaced by a deeper blue, which is a nod to Grumman’s former company color, Armyn said. Also, orange and blue are the colors of Nassau County and they are among the colors of the New York Islanders and some other sports teams in New York, she said.

'They’re really trying to go national'

Of the 4,533 federally insured credit unions in the U.S. as of June, Bethpage was the 16th largest by total assets, according to the National Credit Union Administration, an Alexandria, Virginia-based independent federal agency that insures deposits at federally insured credit unions.

In spite of interest rates rising over the past few years, the Bethpage credit union’s balance sheet and income statement are solid, said Anoop Rai, a Hofstra University professor of finance who studies international banking and financial markets.

The rebranding is an effort to appeal to a new generation of clients, he said.

“They’re really trying to go national, right, without a doubt. And there are quite a few credit unions merging. So, they are very much more aggressive than the other credit unions on Long Island, in fact, the most aggressive I would say… in terms of expanding nationally,” he said.

The Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union was similarly motivated by expansion goals when it rebranded as Jovia Financial Credit Union in 2019, he said.

Jovia’s name, “derived from the word ‘jovial,’ is intended to connote optimism, trust, and “banking on the bright side,” the Westbury-based institution announced when it changed its name.

Bethpage Federal Credit Union has had its current name since 1974.

After its start in 1941 as a financial institution for Grumman employees, it later became Grumman Employees Federal Credit Union, and then, in 1948, Bethpage Aircraft Federal Credit Union.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.