ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Credit unions weathered one of their toughest quarters in recent memory between July 1 and Sept. 31, with virtually no growth in deposits or assets, and another 80 credit unions disappearing through merger or liquidation, NCUA reported.
If it's true that, "if you don't grow, you die a little," as one leading credit union economist put it recently, then credit unions died a little in the quarter.
Still, the nation's 8,462 federally insured credit unions - a three decade low - were able to maintain a return on average assets of 0.88% for the period, down just slightly from the 0.90% in the second quarter.
Lending was fairly strong in the third quarter, even as the mortgage market ground to a halt, with 2.4% loan growth.
But the drop off in deposit growth has historic ramifications, as the core shares declined slightly in the three-month period, and by almost 1% for the first nine months of the year.
New deposits have been flowing in to CDs and other longer-term accounts. As a result, assets growth in the third quarter was flat.
The lower growth in assets pushed up the average net worth ratio to 11.52%, near an all-time high.
