Newsroom

Following its annual meeting with the Federal Reserve, NAFCU released its 2021 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions – now available online – detailing the critical and growing role credit unions play in their communities. Members of the association's Board of Directors Wednesday shared insights from the report during a virtual meeting with Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman.

“The 2021 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions exhibits how credit unions proactively and successfully stepped up to help Americans nationwide, including many low- and moderate-income communities, as they move forward from lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. “It is clear that credit unions are willing and able to do even more to help local communities. The report overwhelmingly highlights the industry-wide desire for a modernized field of membership that allows credit unions to fill the gaps left by big banks.

"Additionally, regulatory and compliance burdens weigh heavily on a credit union's ability to serve their members. The report details the importance for policymakers to ease regulatory burdens on credit unions as they continue to put the financial well-being of their members well ahead of their own profits.”

Through the report, NAFCU details four key credit union areas, including industry trends, service and product offerings, policy priorities, and the strong need for the modernization of credit union field of membership.

Some highlights include:

• the median bank has more than five times as many employees and more than six times as many assets as the median credit union;
• credit unions make a higher share of their mortgage loans to Black and Hispanic borrowers than banks;
• nearly 60 percent of credit unions express that field of membership issues were critical to their continued growth and success;
• ninety-three percent of NAFCU survey respondents operate at least one program for the benefit of their members at a loss; and
• nearly three in four credit unions say net interest margin will be a significant challenge over the next three years.

The report also highlights NAFCU's policy priorities in relation to its findings and includes priorities for a healthy regulatory environment in which credit unions can grow and thrive.

The information compiled in the 2021 NAFCU Report on Credit Unions is based on the association's Federal Reserve Meeting Survey, an annual assessment of NAFCU members covering topics discussed in the report. The report also draws on data collected for NAFCU's Economic & CU Monitor and CU Industry Trends Report.