Reactions were positive from leaders of the industry’s two national trade groups regarding the NCUA’s second quarter aggregate call report data released Tuesday showing double-digit growth in most loan categories and strong membership growth.
“The second-quarter data indicates credit unions continue to deliver exceptional value and service to their members,” NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger said. “American consumers are seeing the difference between credit unions and their competitors, and the choice is clear. Excellent member service and first-rate products and services continue to set credit unions apart and draw new members to the industry.”
CUNA Senior Economist Perc Pineda noted though the U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth, the sum of the products and services produced by the U.S. economy, in the first and second quarter were both soft, lending opportunities for credit unions remain strong given that labor markets continue to strengthen and the housing market recovery continues to gain momentum.
“The [NCUA] report underscores impressive growth in auto and mortgage lending,” Perc said. “By and large, auto and mortgage lending at credit unions are expected to remain strong this year.”
In addition to credit union membership growing by more than 1.1 million during the second quarter of 2016, totaling 104.9 million, Berger noted, credit union assets year over year increased to $86 billion, or 7.4%, totaling $1.25 trillion; shares were up 0.8% in the quarter, amounting to $1.06 trillion; total loans jumped 3% during the quarter, totaling $823.4 billion; and the loan-to-share ratio rose 1.7 percentage points to 77.8%.
Berger also noted the average net worth ratio increased by seven basis points from the first quarter of 2016, but was down by seven basis points from a year ago, to 10.85%.
CUNA, which released its monthly credit union estimates for July last week, said credit unions got off to a strong start for the second half of the year.
“Based on our estimates, there were 107.6 million credit union members in July,” Perc said. “We are confident that credit union savings, loans, assets and memberships will meet or exceed our forecast this year.”
