Federally insured credit unions posted strong third-quarter numbers as total loans outstanding topped $1 trillion.
The National Credit Union Administration on Thursday released data on the financial performance of federally insured credit unions in the quarter ending Sept. 30. A key highlight was loans growing more than 9 percent from a year earlier.
Overall net income totaled $13.6 billion, a jump of 30 percent from the same period a year ago.
Loans secured by 1-to-4 family residential properties totaled $439.9 billion, up almost 12 percent, while auto loans surged about 11 percent, to $361.7 billion. Credit card balances totaled $59.4 billion, an increase of more than 8 percent, and non-federally guaranteed student loans climbed more than 15 percent, to $4.9 billion.
Other positive trends included increases in assets and membership but the number of federally insured credit unions continued its long-term decline. At the end of the third quarter, there were 5,436 institutions, down more than 3 percent from a year earlier.
NCUA said performance by asset category was consistent with long-running trends: Credit unions with at least $1 billion in assets had the highest growth in net worth, membership and loans, while institutions with less than $100 million in assets reported declines in those metrics.
Other highlights included:
- Interest income was up 13 percent, over the year, to $50 billion, and non-interest income surged almost 12 percent, to $19.9 billion.
- Interest expense totaled $9.1 billion annualized in the third quarter, an increase of more than 25 percent, from a year earlier. Noninterest expenses rose almost 8 percent, over the year, to $43.9 billion. Additional labor costs, which were up about 8 percent, accounted for half of the jump in these expenses.
- Total assets were $1.4 trillion, up more than 5 percent.
- Credit unions added 4.9 million members over the year, and membership reached 115.4 million.
- The number of credit unions with a low-income designation totaled 2,561, up about 1 percent year over year.
