In Brief: Another Mark for Credit Unions

Less than two years after surpassing the $500 billion-asset plateau, the credit union industry has hit another milestone.

According to the Credit Union National Association, credit union assets topped $600 billion at the end of the first quarter. The trade group attributes the growth to a steady increase in its members' deposits - they rose 5.5% between Dec. 31 and March 31 and 5.8% in the first quarter of 2002.

But Mike Schenk, the association's vice president of economics and statistics, said he expects savings growth to slow in the second half now that the war in Iraq is over.

Credit unions' loan growth has not been nearly as robust. They made 0.1% more loans in the first quarter than in the like period of 2002, the trade group said.

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