NCUA: Profits, Assets, and Deposits Up

The National Credit Union Administration reported that credit union assets surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in the industry’s history.

Assets grew by 4.2 percent during the quarter to $1,001.8 billion. Deposits (shares) jumped by $38.6 billion to $866.0 billion and credit unions added 667,000 members. However, loans at federally-insured credit unions were largely unchanged – inching up by $532.5 million to $572.0 billion. First mortgages, used vehicles loans, and non-federally insured student loans increased during the quarter, whil other lending products such as credit cards, unsecured loans, and other real estate loans fell. As a result, the loan to deposit ratio at credit unions fell during the quarter from 69.07 percent to 66.05 percent.

Credit unions posted a profit of $2.1 billion during the first three months of 2012 on lower interest expenses and reserving for loan losses and an increase in other operating income. The industry’s return on assets was 0.84 percent – 17 basis points higher than year-end 2011 levels.

Credit union net worth increased by $2.1 billion to $100.3 billion. However, the net worth ratio for credit unions fell by 20 basis points to 10.1 percent, as assets grew faster than net worth. This was the first deline in the net worth ratio in a year.

Credit union reported an improvement in asset quality as both delinquencies and charge-offs declined during the first quarter. Delinquent loans fell by from $9.1 billion at the end of 2011 to almost $8.25 billion at the end of the first quarter. The industry’s delinquency ratio dropped 16 basis points to 1.44 percent.

Net charge-offs fell from $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011 to $1.1 billion for the first quarter of 2012. As a result, the net charge-off ratio fell 13 basis points to 0.78 percent.

Read the press release.