Highlights include the following:
- During February, credit unions picked-up 417,000 in new memberships, loan and savings balances grew at a 11.0 percent and 5.6 percent seasonally-adjusted annualized pace, respectively. Firms hired 326,000 workers, nominal consumer spending was unchanged, and long-term interest rates increased 28 basis point. Real GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 2.8 percent in 2018, faster than the 2.6 percent pace reported in 2017.
- At the end of February, CUNA’s monthly estimates reported 5,757 CUs in operation, 1 fewer than one month earlier. Year-over-year, the number of credit unions declined by 240, more than the 222 lost in the 12 months ending in February 2017.
- Total credit union assets rose 1.5 percent in February, below the 1.6 percent gain reported in February of 2017. Assets rose 6.2 percent during the past year due to a 5.9 percent increase in deposits, a 16.6 percent increase in borrowings, and a 6.4 percent increase in capital.
- The nation’s credit unions increased their loan portfolios by 0.5 percent in February, faster than the 0.2 percent pace reported in February 2017. Loan balances are up 10.4 percent during the last 12 months. With loan balances growing faster than savings, credit union liquidity is tightening up as the credit union average loan-to-savings ratio reached 82.6 percent, up from 79.2 percent in February 2017.
- Credit union memberships rose 0.37 percent in February, down from the 0.41 percent gain reported in February 2017. Memberships are up 4.6 percent during the past year due to robust demand for credit, solid job growth and comparatively lower fees and loan interest rates.
- Credit union loan delinquency rates rose to 0.84 percent in February, above the long-run “natural rate” average of 0.75 percent. Expect the rate to fall in March due to tax refunds and bonuses allowing some members to catch-up on late loan payments.
For more details, access the full report at cunamutual.com.
