BY CU Journal - May 2, 2011
Data released recently by CUNA Mutual shows the credit union community has lost 228 CUs over the past year, and 35 so far in 2011. A data revision also found some 226 CUs disappeared in 2010, which was 19 higher than previous estimates. As of the end of Q1, the U.S. had 7,570 credit unions, down from the 24,000 of the 1970s.
The data support what any CFO or ALM committee already knows too well, that savings remain strong and is 4.2% over the past year, including a 1.7% surge in February, while at the same time lending has now declined for six straight months and is down 1.1% over the past year. "Weak member demand for short-term credit and CUs not wanting to hold 30-year fixed-rate assets, are key factors driving this trend," CUNA Mutual said in its analysis.
Total assets are getting closer to the $1-trillion threshold at $948 billion, up 4.0% since February 2010. All those deposits helped push the capital-to-asset ratio down just a bit to 9.9%, while the loan-to-share ratio declined to 70.4%.
As Credit Union Journal reported March 14, membership has actually declined. CUNA Mutual said the number of members was revised lower by 323,000 in 2010, and at the end of February 2011 the number of people who are helping other people was at at 92.7 million. "Annual gains will remain well below trend for the foreseeable future as the importance of relationship pricing increases," said the company in its Trends report.
There is some good news: delinquencies are down a bit across the CU community to 1.681%.
