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July 06, 2022

New CU Industry Trends report shows ‘sturdy’ membership growth

CU industry trends reportNAFCU’s latest CU Industry Trends report revealed that share growth is returning to a historically normal level. Of note, decline in share growth coincides with a reduction in investment growth.

The pace of industry consolidation is also growing, with 3.3 percent of insured credit unions declining over the past 12 months. In terms of earnings and capital adequacy, net interest margins are still in decline, with ROA dipping slightly in the first quarter as a result.

Other key data from NAFCU’s new trends report found that:

  • credit unions subject to the new risk-based capital (RBC) rule reported an average ration of 17 percent in the first quarter, with 55 percent utilizing the complex credit union leverage ratio exemption from RBC;
  • loan-to-share ratios are starting to grow again, but remain much lower than they were pre-pandemic;
  • delinquencies are still at historically low levels, while loss reserves remain elevated;
  • credit union productivity measures improved in 2020 as the industry paused hiring, but in the first quarter of 2022, employment grew at the fastest pace in over a decade; and
  • credit unions originated an all-time high of eight percent of residential mortgage loans.

In addition, noteworthy state level results include:

  • Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, and Iowa had the highest average membership growth;
  • Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Iowa, and Puerto Rico had the highest share growth; and 
  • Hawaii, Maine, and New Hampshire saw the lowest loan growth.

NAFCU’s CU Industry Trends is a quarterly report of the latest trends among credit unions and is sent to members only. It is designed to help credit unions identify patterns in industry performance, and to promote comparisons with their own institutions. The report delivers key trends based on NCUA data, both at the industry level and broken down by region, state, and asset class.

In addition, NAFCU's member-only CU Performance Benchmark and Operating Expense reports were recently sent to credit unions and are now available for download. These reports provide credit unions with individualized financial performance and expense analyses based on the most recent call report data. These reports, composed by NAFCU's award-winning research team, are useful tools for tracking